Broken by the Present
by The-Young-Volcano O.o
Summary: When Alice travels to New York, an Apocalypse strikes and she runs into Death's brother, War. Alice follows the youngest horseman and helps him try to prove that he is innocent, her being a bystander and his brother's love.
1. Chapter 1

PREFACE

"Brother! It seems you've returned from 'Wonderland' in one piece." War said as he walked up to his brother, Death.

"It _appears_ so," He replied, emphasizing 'appears' more than he intended to, not peeling his gaze from his horse's neck. War walked to the opposite side of Despair and gazed at his brother, who still wouldn't look up. Death had a small horseshoe charm hanging from Despair's fleshy neck, but War decided to not even ask.

"How was it?" He asked Death after a few minutes of silence. "I presume this 'Alice' was a complete lunatic-"

Death cut him off by thrusting Harvester so it was a few inches away from his brother's neck. "I strongly advise you not to finish that statement, brother."

"And why is that?"

Death didn't answer. he reattached the dual scythes to his tattered belt and began to walk.

"Is there something that i'm missing, Death?"

"No." He blankly replied.

"Hmm." War acknowledged.

"What are you doing here?" The eldest horseman asked.

"What, i'm not allowed to come and speak to my brother about his most previous assignment?" No answer. "Anyways...was the girl completely insane?"

Death glanced down to the necklace that strung around his horse. "No."

"Then why was she such a threat to the balance?"

Death sighed. "The past broke her, War."

"I see."

"And I _don't _want anything to happen to her."

Chapter one

I woke up with bloodshot eyes. I had been sleep deprived for the past couple of weeks, but I didn't care. I had Death on my mind. how the last time I had entered Wonderland and Death was assigned to accompany me. How we explored Wonderland as we had to fix it due to the fact that creatures that I created began to come alive and destroy mankind. How Doctor Bumby, the man who I trusted with all of my secrets was the one who killed my family. That all took place around seven years ago.

I haven't seen Death in all of this time, but he was basically the only thing that has been on my mind. After he left that day when we killed the Dollmaker and Bumby, my mind returned to London. My sanity returned, and I haven't had a problem with it since, other than I could control my hallucinations. When I walked around London, everything was wrecked. people were living on the streets, buildings were demolished.

After a year or two, people began to gain their lives back from the tragedy. I was able to work and get an apartment for myself since I was not required to be locked in an asylum anymore. I lived alone, and the only time I was exposed to the outside world was when I had to do errands or work. Other than that, I never left my house. But every night I thought about the eldest Horseman.

Once I had the time, I thought it would be interesting to travel. I figured since the tragedy was worldwide, I would start with a place I have never heard much about. America. The only place I had ever heard of was New York, so I thought I would go there. As I was packing my bags, something happened that I never expected to.

"Hello..." the Cheshire cat caught me off guard. I flinched, but I didn't look up and kept packing.

"I haven't seen you in a while,"

"Seven years. it doesn't seem like it's been that long."

"It has-"

"And I see that you didn't listen to me. _Again._"

I looked at him for the first time. "What do you mean?"

"I advised you to stay with him."

"I couldn't." I said, sighing because I knew he was referring to Death. "He had to leave. You know me, and you know that I would have if I could."

"Just watch out on your vacation, Alice..." He replied, grinning his signature grin. He evaporated, and I went back to packing. I zipped up my bag, and I walked out the door, locking it right behind me.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Once I got to New York, I started to look around. I walked on the side walk and saw that the skies weren't as polluted as London's, but it wasn't very _good_ either_. _I had no idea where I was heading, but I just kept walking. Behind me, I heard people screaming, but I ignored it. Suddenly, one of the buildings on my right was being attacked. I had no idea by who... or what, but it made me step back. some kind of meteor crashed into the side, breaking the glass in the process. My heart beat sped up, and i began to walk the other way. That didn't help, because another meteor ripped through the building right in front of me. The blast knocked me onto my feet, and I felt a burn on my arm. some policemen helped me to my feet, but I just walked away from them. And then I started to run. I saw some kind of strange beast running towards me. it was a dark brown color and it had no eyes. I watched it run towards me, I opened my luggage and pulled out my Vorpal Blade. I know, but just because Wonderland is imaginary didn't mean I didn't have the weapon that stuck with me through the whole thing. I pulled it out and began to slash at the creature. It soon died, and I wiped the blood from the end of the blade. after I killed the beast, I turned a corner and saw a man that was a lot taller then the everyone else. He had icy white hair, deep tan skin, and a scarlet red hood. then I started to think...

_That could of been a demonic creature...and that really looks like War, from the memories that Death showed me. This must be the apocalypse! If it is...Death is here._

I broke into a run and got over to the man. He was fighting off more of the creatures, and he was also trying to kill a creature with bleach white wings being held into place with a set of golden armor.

_Angels, demons, this really must be the Apocalypse. _I thought. I walked up to the man that looked like War as he killed off the Angel.

"Are you War?" I asked over the noise.

"What is it to you, _human?_" He hissed with a low, velvety voice.

_Yep. That's War. _"Where's Death and your other brothers!?"

"I don't know! Now get out of my way."

Before he could walk away, I yelled one more thing. "I'm Alice." I figured that the Council had told Death's brothers where he would've been. I must have been right, because War turned and looked at me.

"_Alice?_ You mean the same _Alice_?"

"I believe your brother knows me very well."

Another meteor crashed onto a building. "Damn it! He said he didn't want anything to happen to you..." He whispered under his breath. "Come," He moved his head in the motion to go. I ran behind the Horseman as he tried to take out as many demons as he could. any ones that he didn't kill, I took the time to use the Vorpal Blade and decapitate as many as I could. I did my best to keep up with War, and he soon stopped and fell to the ground.

I stopped and looked at him, and he grunted in pain.

"What is _happening?_" He questioned to himself. After a moment, he got up and we continued on. Running through the streets of the shattered New York was a complete blur. People were dying right before my eyes, and I just wanted to cry, but War seemed slightly colder than Death, the one who I was in love with...

_I wonder if Death told War...or Fury or Strife... all I know is that Death isn't as open to his brothers as he was with me..._

_"_Impossible." I heard War say. My head snapped up and I saw an angel that was a lot bigger than the others; he had a white feather coat that hung down over layers and layers of shining golden armor._ "_What is this?" War asked. "Where are my brothers?!"

The angel War spoke to got attacked by a demon, but shook it off easily. "How could this happen!" he exclaimed.

War thrust his sword, Chaoseater- I was just remembering the name of the sword- into the concrete, and I looked up to see the angel again.

"The seventh seal was not broken!" A large hand came up from a newly formed pool of lava, and it grabbed the angel.

"Abaddon!" a female angel yelled as the other was crushed. She then turned her attention to War. "What in Heaven's name have you done?!"

"I...answered the call."

The angel flew off to attack more demons, and the hand that grasped Abaddon began to rise more and more out of the lava until a figure formed. It was covered in armor that was cracked and pieces were missing. This creature, to me, wasn't that frightening, other then the fact that he was about the size of the Dollmaker.

War walked backwards without talking his eyes off the beast until he was beside a food stand. he picked it up and threw it at the creature. it hit him in the eye, and it rested its chin on the pavement. War ran up to the beast and used Chaoseater to stab the creature in the eye. The thing screamed in pain, and War was about to give the final blow. That's when he collapsed again. He feel back hard against the concrete, and the demon used his huge gauntlet to throw War across the ground. It turned its attention to me.

"Taking a mortal with you, War?" It sarcastically asked, as it grabbed me with its gauntlet. I protested as much as I could, but I couldn't do anything. with its other hand, he picked up War, and before I could see anything else, I blacked out.

xxxxxxxxxxx

**"Why is a mortal before us?!"** I heard a low voice say. I opened my eyes, and saw three rock statues enveloped in fire...

The Charred Council.

I sat up and began to scoot back from them, paralyzed in fear. I saw War In front of me as I hit the back wall of the place.

"Alice." He blankly replied.

**"****_Alice?!_****"** The right one exclaimed.** "The Alice whom threatened the balance?"**

"Correct."

The middle rock paused, and then spoke again.** "Come forward."**

I didn't move for a moment, but then somehow got to my feet without collapsing. I walked up slowly, and stood only slightly behind War.

**"Why are you here?"** the voice boomed.  
"W-War told me to follow." I stuttered.

**"War? Why is this so?"**

"I ran into her on the street, and I figured the Charred Council could use such a powerful mind to their advantage."

They didn't reply for a few moments, but then gave us the answer. **"Alright, Horseman. That is not our concern right now... The law is clear. When the Seven Seals are broken, four horseman will ride forth to punish the wicked. Be the sons of men, the lords of Heaven, or the dregs of Hell... all upon Earth will be judged, and the pact forged anew. You forget your post, horseman! You forget the ****_Law!_****" The Council screamed. "No call was given! Yet, the Destroyer marched, and you were found under his black banner. If the claims are true-"**

"To Hell with your claims!" War exclaimed, and I stepped back. "The seals were broken! I was _summoned!"_

**_"_****But where are the other horsemen? Were they not summoned as well? The seals are hidden as they have been since the pack was forged, eons ago...all of them intact! There was no call. You aided the dark ones, broke a sacred covenant that has doomed mankind, and threatened the balance! do you deny it?!"** I was back up against the wall again.

"When I rode..." War began. "Heaven and Hell were already at war. Abaddon was there. He knew something-"

**"Abaddon fell, fighting off the chaos you unleashed!"**

"I fought powerless against the demons, and _still _you accuse me?!"

**"Your defeat proves nothing. Likely, the Destroyer cast you aside when he was finished with you! You have defiled the law, Horseman... you will be punished."**

"I serve only the Council. Only the balance. As the horsemen always have... send me back. I'll punish the ones responsible."

**"How? What hope do you have against the Destroyer's armies? You're powerless."**

"Then I will fail, and the demons will have carried out your sentence."

**"Hmm...very well... you will return to the Earth. But, you will be watched. Come forth."**

War walked up to the council, and sat on his knees. He thrusted his over-sized gauntlet into the lava, making me flinch. He grunted in pain, but stayed mostly silent as the magma scorched his skin. The boiling rock then turned from bright orange to a deep black with a green tint. the black turned to smoke in which emveloped his gauntlet.

**"The Watcher is bound to you,"** the rock on the left told War.** "it will ensure your loyalty."**

A creature then formed out of the smoke. It had six pale green slits for eyes, and its cheekbones were sucked in. it had no mouth, but it spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Remember that," The Watcher hissed. "Or I will_ really _get under your skin..." The Watcher returned to War's gauntlet, and he cringed in pain and dug his fingers into the rock.

**"****_Enough!_**** Rise, War, and arm yourself."**

Right next to where I sat in the back with my back firmly pressed against a rock, a hole formed with lava bubbling out of it, I moved over so I wouldn't get burned, and War's sword rose out of it.

"Chaoseater. The angry blade thirsts for destruction. War walked towards the blade, grabbed it and threw it on his back, making me flinch again.

**"Ah, the girl..."**

_Please don't stick me with War, please don't stick me with War... _I thought.

**"You will accompany the horseman on his quest."**

_Damn. "_I...okay..."

**"Now, get out of here. best be on your way..."**


	2. Chapter 2

"It looks like our trajectory was a little off." I heard the Watcher say. My eyes opened and I saw War sitting in the middle of a flaming crater on his knees. He clenched his fist, stood up, and shoved the Watcher away. I got up so I could watch the argument take place.

"Not so fast, _horseman." _The thing spoke again. A blue hue surrounded War and he fell to the ground, thrusting Chaoseater into the crater in the process. "Until this is over, you're a dog on a leash. If I say bark, you bark. and if I have to kick you, you _better _not bare your teeth. Understand? Or, should I teach you _and _the human to play dead?" It looked at me and narrowed all of its eyes. I took a small step back and War walked away. "Good boy."

The Watcher disappeared into War's gauntlet. He started to walk towards me, and I tried to back up. All he did was walk past me, telling me to move. I followed him up a flight of stairs and I heard a faint crack. I flinched and looked at War. A pale creature with rotting skin (that reminded me of Despair...now seeing Death's brother, the reaper was flooding my mind), and its heart beating outside of its body. I pulled out the Vorpal Blade and used it to rip out the creatures heart. It fell behind War, and he spun around. He narrowed his ice white eyes, and looked at the beating heart jammed into the tip of the Vorpal Blade.

"I was wondering what you wielded."

I held back a laugh. that was _exactly _what Death had said when i got it back. _I bet he would've laughed at that. If only he was here-_

"Human."

"What? Oh, yes. The Vorpal Blade."

"You really are mad," War chuckled. "I can't even ask you a question without you zoning out-"

"I'm not mad."

"You almost destroyed the Third Kingdom! That's madness in my book."

"I _was_ mad. I'm not anymore...and either way, that was seven years ago." I shyly replied.

"Only seven human years...interesting."

I flung the beating heart from the tip of the Blade, and followed War. I kept my distance from him as we walked.

_He's so much meaner than Death... Well, that's kind of ironic... _I thought. _If only he was here. I would be the happiest person alive! Or...the only person alive... oh, shut up Alice. You're-_

"Damn you, pay attention!" War hissed between his teeth, cutting me off mid-thought. I looked up and saw a crowd of demons surrounding him. As he slashed at them, I ran behind War and began to kill as many as I could.

_It feels good to wails this blade again!_ I exclaimed in my head. I slightly chuckled as I rammed the tip of the Blade into the torso of a demon; using the momentum to flip myself over the creature, flipping the demon over my head and into the next one, killing them both. I wiped the splattered blood from my temple, and turned back towards War.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" He asked.

"Where do you _think I _learned to do that?" He didn't answer. "Your brother." Once I said that, the memories began to flood back...

_"Try again." Death said, holding out Harvester's handle. I wrapped my fingers around it and looked at the insane dollgirl, lunging its half-scissor at me. I used Harvester to block its attack, and began to walk around using every ounce of my strength to keep it lifted off of the ground._

_"No!" I yelled as I swung the scythe, decapitating the doll in the process and making the head crack against the hard metal floor..._

__"Unbelievable. Alice, move." War coldly stated. I snapped my head up to look at him, but he had already turned back around. I caught up to him who had already gotten far up ahead. I walked behind him, a lock of my black hair hovering over my eye. We got up a few flights of stairs in the hotel that we landed in without saying anything. We soon approached a large room filled with chairs and tables. Dust was thickly coated over the crimson red carpet wit small footprints in it.

_Joy, _I thought. I heard a slight snarl behind me, so I picked up the Vorpal Blade without turning around to face the enemy. I saw in the corner of my eye a pale, decomposing hand. I quickly swiped the blade, cutting the arm off. Spinning around, I then trusted the blade through its chest. I slid the corpse off of the blade and it collapsed. More of the creatures walked out, and War killed them easily. Behind him came a demon a larger blue demon with its fists enveloped in flame. It was at least two times bigger than War, and he was much bigger than I was, so I let him handle it.

When the demon slammed its fiery fist on the carpet, War slammed Chaoseater into the fist, holding it to the ground. He punched the demon with his gauntlet with incredible force, snapping its neck. War sighed, grabbed Chaoseater, and kept walking. We walked up more staircases, killing demons in the process.

"The Council ordered me to tell you to seek out Vulgrim...so start seeking!" The Watcher said as he formed from War's gauntlet.

"The Council confers with demons now, does it?"

"Few can afford his services, but perhaps we can strike a bargain. Since the truce was broken, few demons have fallen from the Destroyers favor. Vulgrim is one such outcast; he has long sought an audience with them."

We reached the top of the building that we were traveling in without the Watcher returning to War's gauntlet. He hovered around me (I don't know why) as we walked up to a wall that had a large hole in it from a recent meteor. I walked up, stood next to War, and gazed at what used to be the populated city of New York. Buildings were collapsed on top of each other, and all was coated in a thick layer of ashes.

"How long were we gone?" War asked the Watcher blankly.

"In Earth years, about a century..." The Watcher kept on talking, but I was too busy thinking.

_The apocalypse occurred in eighteen-eighty two...so now its nineteen-eighty two? Damn... _

_I _stopped thinking about that when War grabbed my by the torso and jumped through the hole in the wall. My heart dropped faster than we did, but when we hit the ground, I didn't argue. Just like his brother, I assumed that War was difficult to negotiate with. We walked through up to a circular platform in front of a large building with almost every window blown out.

"Subtle." I heard someone say. I flinched and quickly spun around, but War took his time. A creature with ivory-like horns growing from its head. Bandages wrapped around the creatures spiky broken wings, and aged scrolls hung from its tattered belt. "I almost didn't hear you coming!"

"Vulgrim..." War replied.

"They Council _finally _took me seriously. If so, you're surely not-empty handed... this shall be the briefest of introductions."

Without saying a word, War held up his gauntlet, and a few small blue skulls formed. Vulgrim widened his eyes and inhaled the smoke skulls.

"Mmm..." He mumbled. "There were a few young ones... spectacular!"

"Young ones?" I almost silently whispered. But it wasn't quiet enough. Vulgrim's head turned to look at me, and I froze. The demon drifted towards me, and I tried to back up. It set its scrawny hands on my cheeks, lifting my head up.

"I see you've brought a..._companion_ with you, horseman." Vulgrim moved his ice cold hands to my neck. "Maybe I should take... just _one _more soul. Then, I will feed your curiosity..."

That was the last thing I heard until I blacked out.

I woke up to my head bobbing as War carried me. My head snapped up; War looked at me and then set me down.

"You were getting heavy." He teased in a serious voice.

I grabbed my head, realizing that I had a blistering headache. "What happened?"

"Vulgrim tried to choke you to death."

I touched my neck and felt the grooves where Vulgrim's fingers had once been. "How long have I been out?"

"In your time, around two days."

"It's always two days..." I rolled my eyes, thinking about when I was poisoned by a Drifting ruin back in Wonderland...

"I don't follow," War replied.

"When your brother 'accompanied' me into Wonderland, I was poisoned and comatose for two days..." I explained. "Well, so was Death, but-"

"_You _knocked out _Death?"_

"What? No, I didn't. One of the creatures there did. It rotted away part of his head... either way, why would I want to?"

"And why _wouldn't_ you want to?"

"Because-" I stopped myself. I knew that if Death and I saw each other again, he'd _kill_ me. "Never mind..."

I took a moment to look at my surroundings; I saw a place with crimson red spikes (much bigger than the ones in Wonderland) growing out of two pools of magma. The spikes curled over the top of a walkway to a small arena, hovering over more lava. a stared at the bubbling magma, thinking about Death's bright eyes...

"Alice." War stated, motioning me to walk. I followed his orders and moved towards the small arena. in the middle stood a demonic creature with three small horns tucked back. and large shoulder armor that went over its head. War and the creature exchanged a few words in a language I didn't recognize, and then went back so I could understand it.

"Do you know what is imprisoned here?" The demon asked. "There are things even you should fear, horseman. Once you were strong, but now you are weak and you are alone, only a little girl tagging along!"

_I'm twenty-seven, jackass... _I thought.

"The Destroyer knows of your coming. Even now, he moves his legions against you!"

"Then I'll make this quick." War replied, drawing Chaoseater. The demon growled, fire bursting from its mouth. I pulled out the Vorpal blade, and the demon looked at me, chuckling.

"What are you going to do with that, human? Cut yourself?"

Just when he said that, I was infuriated. On the other hand, I didn't show it. I instead hid the blade behind my back and walked out of the demons sight. War began slashing at at it. Before the demon could realize it, I ran up behind it, thrusting the blade into the back of its neck. The tip of the knife busted through the front of its neck, splattering War in the face. I let the creature fall back, and I put my foot on the its chest and yanked out the blade so wouldn't come with.

War looked at me with a serious face, but he didn't have a serious comment. "I like you!" He teased, pointing at me.

"You're not the only horseman to say that..." I said out loud but finished in my head.

_The only difference: Death wasn't kidding._

"Hey!"

"Hmm?"

"Come on," He rolled his eyes as I started walking out of the middle of the arena. Once I did, a black circle formed in the middle with orange flames coming out of it. Another demon flew out of the hole with its huge maroon wings. Armor was sewn into its chest along with the gloves. Its feet touched the ground, and it spoke.

"War!" The demon exclaimed. "Are you here to play _executioner?"_

"I have no interest in killing _you,_ Samael." War replied.

"Ha! The Destroyer? He's beyond your reach. Beyond mine."

"Has prison made you a coward?" I butted in. Samael walked over to me and loudly growled in my face, fire spitting at me. The flame scorched the tips of my hair, but I didn't move a muscle.

"Perhaps...there is a way." Samael snarled. "But you will need to get inside of the Destroyer's spire. The tower is guarded by four of his chosen. Bring me their hearts...and ask me no questions. My reasons for helping you are my own."

"Where can we find these guardians?"

"We... War, no one will take you seriously-"

"She was assigned to accompany me."

"Very well... First seek out the Twilight Cathedral. Where the bat queen, Tiamat, has gone to roost. The whole of her domain is a blistering inferno. Bring me her still beating heart!"

Samael returned to his hole in the ground; War and I began to walk towards our next location.


	3. Chapter 3

Fog coated the dull gray grass, rain trickling from the sky. I avoided the small puddles as I slowly walked behind War. We approached a small gazebo in the middle of the dark, humid cemetery.

"Samael returned both of you in one piece. He must like you." The high, raspy voice said that was Vulgrim's. I quickly spun around and narrowed my eyes at the demon. "Hello, Alice..."

War walked up and stood in front of me, blocking my sight from Vulgrim. I took a small side step so I could see the demon, but it had its attention on War.

"So, tell me," Vulgrim started. "Why do you guard this human? It's not like her life is more valuable then any of the other mouth breathers that used to live here."

War sighed. "My brother has informed me to."

"Oh, how touching. Death has loved a mortal from his previous quest. Yes, I do know about Death's assignment with the human... and how-."

"It wasn't like that, demon."

_Damn..._ I thought.

"Speaking of the Reaper-" my head shot up. "-he has left something for you." Vulgrim held out a large scythe, wrapped many times with cloth and a sharpened tip.

Harvester.

War grasped the handle of the blade and swung it a few times. My eyes widened and I covered my mouth as I gazed at the scythe.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Death left a message for the human."

"What is it?!" I exclaimed louder than I wanted to, stepping in front of War.

"The reaper wanted me to tell you, 'underestimating your power is a way for an enemy to find your weakness. Those being said don't overestimate your power either. It's a feeble excuse for people who want to underestimate it.'"

I smiled. That's what he told me in the Hatter's Domain.

"Alice?" War asked me.

I ignored him and turned back to Vulgrim, chuckling. "Tell Death that I said, 'Wise words from a wise-ass man.'"

Vulgrim nodded and disappeared back into more blue smoke. I kept laughing and shook my head.

"Alice..." War said again. "Was there something Death didn't tell us?"

"There are a lot of things that Death doesn't tell you. It's just none of you are aware of it."

"Oh, and you are?"

I was going to say yes, but I wasn't going to tell him. I walked away from War and he followed. After a few minutes, a large rock blocked our way. War got out a small horn engraved with ancient writings. He brought the tip of the horn to his lips, and blew into it. The horn sounded, and the rock began to move. It split in half, and the two pieces were the arms covering the rest of the creature. It stood to its full height (which was at lest three times bigger than before).

"We have come for the Destroyer." War told the rock.

"My brothers spoke of your coming. But, a powerful curse holds me now. I cannot help you."

"Any curse can be broken."

"Yes... perhaps. These servants of the Destroyer walk unseen in the Realm of Shadow. By their blood we are bound; by their blood shall we be free."

"I can no longer move within the Shadow Realm. Much of my power has left me."

"You need not enter it. I will grant you the power to see into the accursed realm for a time. But to what end? What hope have we now against the Destroyer's foul sorcery?"

"Hope will not bring you freedom."

"Yes..." The rock opened its mouth, and exhaled in War's face. Its lightning blue eyes turned a bright orange and so did War's. After a few minutes of a stare down, War turned his attention to me. He motioned me to walk, and I followed him. After a while, he stopped and pushed the tip of Chaoseater into the ground. Once he did that, flames enveloped him and he disappeared.

"War...?" I questioned aloud. I didn't get a reply, so I sat down against a cracked rock.

"So, planning on hiding it from the horseman?" I flinched when I heard the Cheshire cat speak.

I looked at him who was sitting right next to me, grinning as usual. "Why does it matter?" I replied. "Talk about an awkward conversation... where is he anyways?"

"He's moving through the Shadow Realm. You're a human, and it's not possible for your kind to get into the Realm."

"Why do I need to tell him, cat?"

"You don't. I just think it's odd that you're in love with his brother and he's completely unaware of it."

"Okay," I began. "So what? Don't get me wrong, I'm completely in love with him, but that doesn't mean his brother has to know, cat. If-"

"Who are you in love with?" War's voice echoed above me. My head snapped up and I almost screamed.

"Damn you, War!" I exclaimed. "You scared me!"

"Yeah...I got that. Who were you talking to?"

I sighed. "My stupid-ass cat..." The Cheshire cat hissed at me.

"No cats are around, Alice."

"Yeah, to you. Some of my hallucinations I still have. None that are... balance-threatening... well, that wouldn't matter now, would it?"

"Very funny, smart ass. Who are you in love with?"

"No one." I replied.

"Liar..." the Cheshire cat chimed in.

"Shut up!" I snapped, looking down at the cat.

War raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Come on."

War and I walked through each part of the cemetery, and he got through each part of the Shadow Realm. When he was away, the Cheshire cat and I argued over something until War returned. After he went into the Realm six times, the Watcher advised us to return to the rock. Once we were there, War blew the horn, and it began to walk the opposite way.

"Ancestors praise you." The creature said as he walked, leaving an open path for War and I. On the other side was an old sewage pipe dripping with contaminated water. It was large enough for us to walk through, and on the opposing end was another cement road leading up to what used to be a large river. A large bride was built over the sand at the very bottom. A door was open to a fallen building, and we walked through it. As we walked up the stairs, I began to think.

"Hey," I quietly said, but War heard me. He let me walk beside him as we climbed the steps. "I haven't given this much thought, but what happened?"

"I don't follow." He replied.

"If an apocalypse took place, where's Death?" War looked at me funny. "A-and the others... I mean to say where are the other horsemen?"

"It wasn't the scheduled apocalypse. I believe someone is trying to frame me."

"Why-" I was cut off by a razor sharp pain in my back. I quickly grabbed the Vorpal Blade and slashed at the pale, rotting zombie that was trying to attack me. It fell to the ground, and I winced as blood trickled down my back. I walked over to an old dusty mirror and wiped it off with part of my dark brown dress. I then turned around and gazed at the gushing cut that went from the top of my left shoulder to my right hip, exposing almost my entire back. I used some of the fabric to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't helping. I began to get dizzy from blood loss.

War walked behind me and examined the wound. "Damn." He blankly stated. He walked over to an old curtain, pulled a large piece off, and shook out the dust. As he set his massive gauntlet on my right shoulder, he used his other hand to get the blood away from the cut. After that, he got another piece of cloth and wrapped it around me. I didn't really know how to reply, and War walked in front of me and looked me in the eye.

"What did my brother mean by that message?" He asked me.

"It's just something he told me." I sighed, smiling.

War narrowed his eyes. "Okay..." he grabbed me by the waist and jumped out of a nearby window. He landed on the old bridge, shaking it and bringing up a cloud of dust. He let me go and started walking. I uneasily walked behind him, and we soon reached another building. We walked into it, got up a few flights of stairs, and before we could walk out in the open, two angels flew over head, making War press his back against a plate of concrete.

"This way!" One of them said as War grabbed my arm and dragged me back down the stairs.

"Its nothing." the other angel replied. "Some demon trick."

"I know what I saw-"

"He's right." A female voice said right above us. War and I silently kept moving.

"Uriel..." one of the angels said.

"It's there beneath the stench of this place... you can sense it. Ancient. From neither the WhiteCity nor the Black Depths; something lost between."

At that moment, we both jumped from a window and onto some kind of angelic creature. It had the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. It looked at me as we landed in its saddle, and its eyes widened.

"Alice?!" The creature exclaimed, and I immediately recognized it.

"Gryphon!" I yelled back. He was the one who saved me from the Jabberwocky when I first went to Wonderland eighteen years ago...

"Hell guard, to arms!" Uriel exclaimed as Gryphon took off.

He avoided angels' gunfire, and I saw something on his back. It was a long staff with two clamps on it, holding a deep yellow eye to it. I unfastened the staff from its place in Gryphon's armor, and just by grasping it, the weapon began to charge. It began to shake in my hands, and then a thick purple beam shot from it. I grinned as I began to take out angels with the staff's power. I turned to look at War, and he looked back with a stunned face, and that made me laugh.

Gryphon soon flew into a cave with no floor, only bubbling magma. We flew high above the lava as I killed angels and demons on the way. We soon exited the cave, and not long after that, Gryphon made a head on collision with a bat three times bigger than him. The bat's tail hit War and I, and we began plummeting towards the concrete. War grabbed my arm so when we hit the ground, he would cushion my fall. War slammed against the ground, leaving a crater. I sat on top of him for a moment, and then stood up. I brushed the ash from the staff I was wielding.

"What the hell is that?" War asked.

"The Jabberwocky's eye staff."

War nodded, and I began to look around. We were on an island of rock surrounded in lava. In the middle was a large cathedral that we started walking towards. We opened the door, and on the other side was a small hallway filled with statues of different creatures. One of them was holding a blade about the same size as Chaoseater with bright white trim around it. War stepped on the statue and pried the sword from its grasp. He put it on his back and walked through the opposing door. In the next room there was a huge hole in the wall where Gryphon and the bat tumbled through, fighting.

"Tiamat I assume?" The Watcher chimed in. "I guess she wasn't up for having visitors today..." Once he said that, the bat slammed Gryphon into a wall, and they both opened another hole in it as they exited the room. War and I jumped over a crack in the tile flooring due to the fact that in between was a river of glowing magma.

We turned a corner, and against a wall was another statue like the first one holding the bright white sword in it. This one was supposed to be holding a sword, but the weapon was absent. War grabbed the blade from his back, jumped up, and stuck it in between the two stone palms. The white trim then turned a glowing red, and a gate was lifted, opening another door.

We moved through and saw an open yard with rain clattering against the stone. Gryphon and Tiamat were fighting once more in the courtyard, but not for long. They tumbled back up, leaving us to walk through freely. In the middle was a large door blocked by a bright orange hue. War didn't bother to stop and observe the peculiar gate, so I kept following.

The ground right underneath a large statue was cracked almost to the point of breaking. War grabbed Chaoseater and slammed it into the weak spot. The weight of the statue made the flooring collapse, leaving a hole in the ground. The inside was hollow; it left a small staircase that War and I walked down.

At the bottom was a closed off area with a flaming green container to the side, being held to the ground by chains. War walked up to it and easily cut it free. It broke loose and split into different pieces. In the inside, it was hollow and held a small weapon in it. Four dagger-shaped spikes were welded to a small bronze circle.

War plucked it out of the air by the small bar resting in the middle of the circle. He brought it up to his chest for a brief moment before throwing it across the room. A lightning blue streak cut through the air behind the boomerang before returning to War. Before we could exit the room, the door we were about to walk through snapped shut.

"Damn." War said under his breath.

"You really do say that a lot, don't you?" I sarcastically replied.

War shook his head, and threw the cross blade at the lock of the gate, but nothing happened. As he tried to break it open, I looked up at the lamp over top of us on the wall. It was glowing with a bright white hue. I figured (because of the swords the same color) that we needed to do something to activate it.

"Throw the blade at that." I said to War as he struggled.

"That won't work." he replied.

"Just try it. Its not like it's going to-" War stopped to turn around and gaze at me coldly. "Okay, okay. Keep doing...whatever you're doing." I finally said after a long stare down.

He turned back, but set the cross blade down behind him and grabbed Chaoseater. I made sure that he was turned around and then quietly snick around him, grabbing the blades. I took a few steps back and then got War's attention.

"Hey!" I yelled, getting War to turn around. I threw the blade, and it hit right in the center. Just like the swords, the white turned crimson, and then the gate opened. I walked towards War and shoved the blades onto his chest. He put his hands over it, and began walking.

Throughout the entire cathedral, we had to face different puzzles. Using War's cross blade to open up gates, moving bright swords onto different statues, or fighting off different demons to get where wee needed to go. At one point, we walked back up the flight of stairs that War discovered, returning to the rainy courtyard. The bright orange hue that stood holding the door shut evaporated, leaving this last door. On the inside was a large spiral staircase.

"I'm guessing he was someone who was killed during the apocalypse?" War finally said as we walked up the stairs.

"What do you mean?" I replied. He looked at me blankly until I finally realized he was talking about what he overheard me say to the Cheshire cat. "Oh..."

Oddly, he didn't ask anymore then that. We reached the top of the spiral staircase and then walked out into the open. People lay dead across the arena floor, and trails of blood dripping across.

"Has the Council reduced the Horseman to common assassins?" I heard a deep, airy voice say. Neither War nor I answered Tiamat as we walked closer. The bat dropped something from her grasp, and it didn't take long for me to realize what it was.

Gryphon.

He sat in a pool of his own blood on the arena floor. I ran from War's side and approached him. I sat next to his corpse and set my head on his chest only to find out he was dead. I covered my mouth in shock and flinched as Tiamat landed from the balcony right in front of War.

"Or has Samael brought your loyalty?" She asked again. "Because, if you or your ally is for sale, Rider, perhaps we can strike a deal."

"You won't like my terms."

Tiamat snarled. "And as for the human?"

"As for me?!" I yelled from across the arena, walking back over to them. "As for me, you're going to get your ass kicked! How about that for your 'terms'?!"

"Feisty child are you?"

I chuckled. "Bitch, you don't even know the half of it!" I pulled out the Vorpal Blade, ran over to her, and rammed the side into her arm. The blade sliced through the flesh and bone like butter, detaching the forearm. She reared up and screeched in pain, then took off. She flew around the arena a few times, and I stared at her. My hallucinations began to kick in.

"Damn, not this again..." I whispered to myself, grabbing my head. For the entire time after that, instead of seeing the bat queen, Tiamat, I saw the Jabberwocky.

_You selfish, misbegotten, unnatural child!_ The words rang in my ears even though no one was saying them. _You smelled the smoke. But you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends! You couldn't be bothered. Your room was protected And spared while your family upstairs roasted in an inferno of incredible horror!_

"Damn you!" I screamed at both the Jabberwocky in my head and Tiamat as she used her one claw to try to swipe at me. Before she could injure me, I sliced her other forearm off. She couldn't keep her balance in the air, so she collapsed to the ground with a large thud.

As she lied on the ground, War ran up to her, jumped, and rammed Chaoseater into Tiamat's left wing. After pulling the sword out, he grabbed both of her wings at once and used all of his strength left to pull the wings from their place on her back. War jumped up when Tiamat tried to shake him off, but only flipped so she lay on her back.

"Horseman..." she croaked as the Watcher formed from War's gauntlet.

"Do it!" The Watcher exclaimed. "Tear her heart out while she still lives! I want to hear her scream!"

"I am one of the chosen... I can grant your every wish..."

"Can you restore the balance?" War replied. I grinned at his sarcasm and at the bet queen's snarl once he said that. He forced his gauntlet inside of Tiamat, and ripped her heart out with a wave of blood following it. The heart moved as War held it.

"No wonder Samael wants this thing," The Watcher chimed in again. "It's _coursing _with power! You _really _think he's going to let you live long enough to collect on your end?"

War jumped from Tiamat's corpse and landed on the ground. We backtracked out of the place until we were back in front of the cathedral. Once we are outside, I realized that we didn't have a way of getting out because The place was surrounded in magma.

"Tragic." Vulgrim said from behind. "Without your feathered friend, how will you escape this prison of rock?"

"We'll find a way." War replied.

"You have certainly proved yourself resourceful." Vulgrim said as he stared at me.

"Dude, seriously? You touch me again I will rip your horns from your head and shove them down your throat." I threatened, getting the slightest chuckle out of War.

"Very rude of you to say, human."

"Look at me. Do you really think I give a damn?"

Vulgrim rolled his eyes and got off the subject. "Perhaps I can provide a quicker way."

"Speak plainly, demon." War told him.

"Serpent Holes. Ancient paths that worm their way beneath the husk of this dead world and beyond. I use them to get about, and for a price, so can the both of you."

"What do you want, Vulgrim?"

"A trifle really... the Chosen's heart. I felt its power the moment you stepped from that tower." War just glared at the demon. "You wound me, Horseman. I would never come between you and your friend Samael. No... I only wish to look at the heart. One glance and the bargain is sealed."

War pulled out the heart, and Vulgrim had his eyes locked on it. He moved his hands closer and closer, but before he could grab it from War's palm, I pulled put the Vorpal Blade and scraped the top of his hand. He pulled his hand back and snarled at me.

"Samael will be pleased." He stated. "The Serpent Holes are yours. Seek me out when you wish to use them."

War and I walked back to Vulgrim. After that, everything was a major blur, and the next thing I remember was ending back up where we met Samael.

"I trust she suffered?" Samael asked as he paced in the small arena.

"Not nearly enough." The Watcher answered for War. The Horseman pulled out Tiamat's heart and handed it to Samael.

"Beautiful... The second Guardian, the Griever, moves in tunnels beneath this place. But first, there is an obstacle that must be removed; Ulthane. One of the Old Ones."

"You didn't mention that before." War replied.

"Changing the deal already, Samael?"

"Silence, filth!" Samael exclaimed, making me take step back. He grabbed the Watcher and threw it across the room into a pillar. "My business is with the horseman... Ulthane is no ally of the Destroyer, but you won't find the Griever without confronting the Black Hammer. And that will require strength you don't posses... _yet."_

Samael picked up the Watcher with some power that surrounded it in an orange flame. It was pinned in the air with its hands over its head.

"What the hell do you thing you're doing Samael!?" The Watcher exclaimed.

"Tell him, Watcher. How you stifle the Horseman's power in order to keep him on the Council's leash. War! Destroy this parasite!"

"You so much as blink at me..." It warned as Samael let him go. "The Council will end you! Both off you! I'm protected!"

"Not in here." Samael snapped, and turned back to face the rider. "You are War! Rider of the Red Horse! Not some puppet on this pathetic creature's strings!"

"War... I will make you suffer!"

"Focus your anger. A great rage stirs within you, clawing to get out. You must release it... or a puppet you'll remain."

War walked up to the Watcher, pushed him down, and used all of his strength to punch its chest. Once he did, the Watcher said nothing. It just got up and returned to War's gauntlet. I sighed, and Samael turned to look at me.

"Ah... the human."

"What about her?" War asked.

"Don't you see? She tricked you to take her out of the apocalypse so spare her precious life! She was too cowardly to die with the rest of her kin. Destroy her! She has only been a nuisance anyways." War drew Chaoseater and raised it above my head, and I closed my eyes.

"You hurt me, you hurt your brother..." was the only thing I could say.

"What-"

"She's lying, War! Kill her!"

He didn't kill me. He used the flat of his blade to knock me across the room, and I lied still for a moment.

"You are still broken by your present time, but there is still much power in you." Samael said, and then he was gone.

I tried to sit up, but the flat of the blade had gotten me right in my ribs, leaving an extraordinary pain. I stayed down, and War walked up to me and lightly rested the tip of Chaoseater on my chest.

"Tell me. Now." He demanded, but I kept my mouth shut.

"I'm not going to give it up. Kill me. I don't care. It's on you the next time you see the Reaper though."

War stared at me for a few long moments, but then lifted up Chaoseater and put it on his back. He then sat down next to me and looked at my side. I was now only realizing that it was gushing blood.

"I might have broken a rib for two." War finally said. I sighed and sat my head back down. Once I did, dizziness came over me and I passed out, only knowing that I had a gushing wound that might kill me. Only knowing that I might not wake up.


	4. Chapter 4

_"The train is coming with its shiny cars. With comfy seats and wheels of stars. So hush little ones and have no fear; the man in the moon is the engineer..."_

_"We'll stop that train! Even if it's the last thing I do!" I yelled at the Dollmaker..._

_"You oozing sore of depravity! Children wearing their names around their necks as if they were breeding livestock!" I yelled at Bumby back in London._

_"A deceleration of their pedigree. You could use one; they're proud to display their provenance!"_

_"You brute! They can't remember who they are or where they're from! How many minds have you twisted into forgetfulness!?"_

_"Not enough! Yours would have been a triumph. Still, you're an insane wreck. My work here is done..."_

_Death used his scythes to rip the Dollmaker's fingers off. As the Reaper distracted him, I used the Pepper Grinder to shoot the doll heads out of its mouth. Once it died, I was back in London._

_"I'll see you charged." I told Bumby. "In prison, some half- wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart... and then you'll hang!"_

_"Indeed? A hysterical woman, former lunatic, roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable social architect and scientist. My God Alice, who would believe you? I scarcely believe it myself."_

_"You monstrous creature! Such evil will be punished!"_

_"By whom? By what? Psychotic, silly Bitch. Your madness will be punished! Now leave. I'm expecting your replacement..."_

"Wake up!" I heard War yell from above the water.

_Water?!_ I thought. My eyes opened and I saw subsided buildings caked in algae. I tried to breathe, but got a mouthful of water. As fast as I could, I got to the surface. I took a few deep breaths and looked at War.

"What the hell, War?!"

"What? You weren't waking up. Plus you needed to rinse off from all of the blood you lost."

"Right... thanks by the way."

"You're welcome!" War sarcastically replied. I swam over to the shore, and tried to walk up to him, but collapsed from the insane amount of pain in my side. "Don't you remember? You broke three of your ribs."

"Three?!" I exclaimed.

"Hey. Chaoseater is a big sword-"

"Well you're the one who hit me with it." He just stared at me. "Well, how are we supposed to move then?"

Without hesitation, War picked me up from the ground and started walking.

"Hey!" I yelled, trying to get free." "Put me down!"

"Alice, the more you struggle, the longer it will be before you can move on your own again."

I sighed, and then stopped trying to get away. I fell limp in his arms, but War didn't peel his gaze from where he was heading. After a few minutes, we approached an open area with the rest of the path blocked by a rock like in the cemetery. War put me down so I sat against a piece of cement, and then brought out the horn. He blew into it, and the rock came to life.

"Forgive me, friend." The rock statue said to War. "I would grant passage were it within my power. Do what you have done for my brethren, and I will hinder you no more."

"There must be another way..." He replied, trailing off.

"The Curse must be broken. Then you may pass." War glanced back at me, and then at the rock. "Don't fret, Rider. I will watch the girl."

My eyes widened, and War stared into the rock's lightning blue eyes. After a few moments, War turned away and ran off. The rock returned to its original position, and I lifted my tattered dress to examine my wound. The skin on my side was ripped away, exposing three of my cracked ribs. I chuckled at the sight.

"Hey look. I'm Despair." I quietly said.

"It's not funny, Alice." I heard the Cheshire cat say. "Keep laughing and you could puncture you lungs, killing you. Imagine how Death would feel then, dumb ass."

I stopped to look at the cat. "Well you're not exactly 'fat and fluffy' yourself."

"You can see my ribs, but at least they are all intact."

"Well... oh, fine. And a can't even imagine how Death would feel. He-"

"Why would my brother care if you died?" War stood over me again.

"My God, Stop doing that!" I yelled, almost screaming.

"Well, stop talking to yourself then!"

"I'm not. I'm talking to-" I stopped to glance over at where the cat once was, but he must have evaporated. "Damn you and your teleporting!" Once I said that, I sighed and then winced. I began to realize how in pain I was.

"Stay here." War told me. "Well, I guess you don't have much of a choice, do you?"

"Very funny, ass..." I replied. War sarcastically grinned and walked away. When he returned, he was holding a huge cloth like before, and he sat down next to me. After folding it a few times, he wrapped it around my wound and tied it. He held his hand on top of it for a moment to make sure it wouldn't begin to bleed again.

"You don't like me much, do you?" War asked me.

"Well, you're sure as hell an ass..." I replied. "But if your brother loves you, you must be a good guy."

War chuckled. "I don't think he'd be the one to put it that way-"

"He did."

"Really. When?" He asked, obviously not convinced.

"He showed me a memory of his. You were shot by... I think the gun was named Black Mercy, and he had revived you through Chaoseater. Then he told me-"

War narrowed his eyes. "Why did he show you that?!"

"He was thinking about it. I asked, and he answered... after lots of protest, but he finally showed me."

"It doesn't seem like he'd be that open to a human."

"You don't even know the half of it." I whispered, but he heard me.

"What do you mean? He's never open about any of our pasts'."

"Really? He told me about the Abomination Vault, and what the four of you did to your kin."

War then gazed at me more seriously. "Okay... what the hell? He hasn't spoken about that since the day it happened. Since the day he put on his mask to never take it back off in front of anyone else."

"Now you're completely false..." I almost silently whispered. Unfortunately, War still heard me, and he froze with his eyes wide.

"You're telling me..." He whispered. "You've seen my brother without his mask on?"

"Good job, War! You're catching up!" I replied, rolling my eyes.

"I-it must have been some kind of accident. Maybe it fell off... or on of the enemies knocked it off, or-"

"He took it off on purpose."

War gazed at me in absolute shock. He finished tying off the cloth, and he picked me up. He blew the horn and the rock moved out of the way.

"Ancestors praise you. Soon we will be free..." It said. War walked through the sewage pipe that was our next pathway.

"Why?" War finally asked.

"I... don't know...?"

"You're a terrible liar, you know that right?"

"Yes... Death always said that..."

"Great. Now why did he take his mask off in front of you? I mean, of all creation. He won't even take it off in front of us. What makes you-?"

"So he could kiss me." I finally said, squinting.

"-any different... Wait, what?"

"You heard me, War."

"You-"

"Don't ask. Just don't ask."

That's where the conversation ended. War looked at the path ahead. After he walked for a few minutes, we approached a place with bright green grass growing and water trickling from above. In the middle was a large handle, glowing from the bottom. War sat me down against a wall, and then walked over to it and began trying to lift it off of the ground.

"Come on already!" The Watcher exclaimed. "What are you waiting for!?"

"If you plan on using them hands again," I heard someone say right beside me. I flinched and looked up. The man standing next to me was at least two times bigger than War in muscles and height. His eyes looked like they were being pulled up into the folds of his forehead, and they went all the way up his bald head. "You'd best not be touching what ain't yours."

"Ulthane..." War replied.

"You know me, but I don't know you. And I don't like strangers. Especially the uninvited kind."

"We've come for the black hammer."

"Really now?!" Ulthane chuckled. "You are welcome to give it another go. But after that, I best not catch you around here again."

"It's you."

"What's that now?"

"The Black Hammer. It's you."

"Do your worst... but let me tell you a secret, boy." Ulthane said, cracking his neck and turning towards me. "The one in the dirt is by far the easier of the two."

Ulthane ran towards me and put his head right above me. He moved his hand like he was going to punch me, but before he could; I rammed my foot up and kicked him in the jaw as hard as I could. He tumbled back, and then turned towards War who already had Chaoseater up to his neck.

"You touch her I will personally take your head back to the Council as a souvenir."

Ulthane chuckled, and pushed Chaoseater out of the way. He shoved War across the room, and he slammed against a rusty car. After a few moments, he got back up and began to get a bright orange flame around him. He began to get taller right before my eyes, and before I knew it, he had transformed into some kind of demon made completely out of fire and magma. War walked over to Ulthane and began slashing at him with the scorching red sword in his hand. Once War's demon side faded, Ulthane knelt to the ground.

"I haven't been tagged in millennia...hmm..." He said.

"One hundred years-" I heard Uriel say from above me. She landed on the old car right next to me and held out her sword. "-since the day Abaddon was taken from us. I have prayed for this moment. For your crimes, I would see you tried in the WhiteCity. But until this world is free from the Destroyer, its gates are closed to us. And justice will not wait. I sentence you here and now!"

War grabbed Chaoseater and slammed it against her sword, making an ear- piercing screech between the metal. I cringed at the noise, and Ulthane threw the hammer that War tried to pick up before into the air, and when it came back down, it landed on top of an angel crushing it to death.  
"Your justice can wait until we finish our little scrap, missy. There isn't any sport jumping into a tussle that doesn't concern you. Go on, pigeons! Before I pluck you!" Ulthane yelled.

"Blasphemer!" A different angel exclaimed as he walked over to the hammer, trying to lift it off of the ground. "It is you who takes sides in a battle that doesn't concern you!"

Ulthane watched the angel try to pick up the hammer, and he laughed. "Please! Allow me." He pushed the angel away and grabbed the handle. He swung it backwards, and it hit the angel's skull. "That's what you get for touching what ain't yours. I'd duck if I were you."

After that, everything was a blur. War was too busy fighting off angel's, so he couldn't carry me. I had to slowly walk with my broken ribs. When angels came and tried to attack me, I used the Jabberwocky's Eye Staff to kill them off. After a while, Ulthane opened a door for us and we entered a small closed off room.

"You'll go nowhere, Horseman. You cannot escape your fate. Abaddon will be avenged!" Uriel said as she entered the room. War and the angel began fighting, and I stopped to lean against a rusting car. My ribs began to ache, and I winced.

As I wasn't paying attention, I looked up and saw that Uriel had War pinned to the wall, her sword slowly cutting into his neck. I jumped up and quietly walked over to her. I jumped up and put the blade up to her neck, drawing blood.

"You're asking for your funeral." I whispered.

"Get off me, human!" Uriel exclaimed. "What is that blade going to do to me?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" I replied. I took the knife off of her neck and rammed it into the armor of her back. The blade cut through her, and the tip went all the way through her side. I made sure that the wound wouldn't kill her, but knock her comatose from the blood loss. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out. Two more angels flew down and picked her up, and then flew off.

"Alice, I could've handled that-"

"Oh, shut up. You were getting your ass kicked."

He sighed, and turned around. Ulthane was standing in front of him, staring onto his ice white eyes.

"Ah...could be you really are who you say. Them pigeons seemed mighty convinced. But I ain't. So once again, you know me, but I don't know you."

"The Griever's lair." War stated.

"The Greiver's beyond here. Had to seal this place up tight to keep her pets out of my yard. The little bastards kept dropping by uninvited, taking things that don't belong to 'em."

"I am who I claim to be..."

"You kill that Greiver, even make it out of that hole alive, and that'll be proof enough. Then, I promise we'll have words. I can't say the same for this... creature." Ulthane told War, referring to me. "But, I'll be even more convinced if the both of you make it out alive. Now get out of my yard."

Ulthane held the door open for us, and as I waked through, he shoved me, pushing me into War. A price of his armor hit my ribs, so I cringed and fell to the ground, clutching my side. War shook his head and sat on his knees next to me. Unfortunately, as he unwrapped the bandage around me, he brought the subject back up.

"I'm going to ask." He said without looking up. My head snapped up.

"What do you mean?"

"You told me not to ask. But I'm about to."

I sighed, and looked back down. "What do you want to know...?"

"Why he took his mask off. Guilt overpowers my brother, making him not want to take his mask off. Ever. I just don't understand-"

"I don't want to say."

"Oh, trust me, I heard you before. But why would he want to-"

"Stop." I demanded. "Now."

"Human, it's not wise to tell a Horseman what to-"

I cut him off by grabbing the Vorpal Blade and holding it up to his neck. "Don't. Ask. Again."

"'You hurt me, you hurt Death.'" War mimicked. I stared at him angrily for a few moments, and then took the blade from his neck. I snarled, but then sighed and sat back down on my knees. War stood up and took the cloth to rinse it in the water. Once he was finished, he rang out the water and wrapped the old fabric around my torso again.

"You're a real ass, you know that?" I rhetorically asked as he finished tying the cloth around me.

"I can partially say the same thing about you,"

I rolled my eyes and tried to stand up. War saw me struggling to get up do to my injury, so he grabbed me and gently got me on my feet. I sighed, and then walked ahead of him. After a few minutes of walking, War caught up to me.

"Did my brother..." War started, obvious that he didn't know how to ask. "Have... affections towards you?" I didn't answer. I only kept my eyes on the trail head. "He did! That man is so unpredictable, its insane. I don't know if I should be relieved or disgusted. He has been so... alone all of this time since the day he had slaughtered his love..."

I stopped walking and looked at him. "What did you just say?"

"Heh, I'm surprised he didn't tell you."

"What did he not tell me?"

"For the longest time before the... massacre," War began. "He was mad for one particular woman. They loved each other... more than I had ever seen in my time. I didn't know Death that much then, but whenever I saw him around, he was always with her. Wouldn't take his eyes off of her. When we became closer, he wouldn't stop talking about her. Every other word was about her... we met Fury and Strife, and we did what we had to do... and Death was the one who had to kill her. It took every ounce of his dignity to do it. And he has never forgiven himself..."

I covered my mouth with my eyes wide. That was something he didn't tell me. After a moment, I snapped my eyes shut.

_Idiot!_ I thought to myself. _You should have known... "_I can't..." and _I asked him to kill me! _"Even begin to explain how awful I feel..."

"Why, because Death felt the same way about you-"

I cut him of by slamming him against a wall, wrapping my fingers around his neck. "You think you're funny?!" I yelled, my grip getting tighter with every word. "Yes, damn you! Yes he did! And I had asked him to kill me! To save the balance! And he refused to! He loves me and I love him!"

War's eyes widened at my reaction. "You asked him to kill you." He croaked, repeating my words.

The emotions kept getting stronger. Some hatred against War, my love for Death... my throat began to close up, and I sighed, my voice cracking. I unwrapped my fingers from his neck, and I sat my forehead on his shoulder. I didn't expect him to, but War pulled me closer into a hug. I pushed him away and walked a few feet.

"And no," I said after a long silence. "No, I don't hate you." War just looked at me. "You're a good person. And a good friend to the others."

"Yeah, to the others."

I turned to face him again. "Don't tell me you're guilty."

"Alice, we all are. Nothing is ever going to change it. We all had our..." he trailed off.

"Had your what?"

War swallowed, and shook his head, looking at the ground. "We all had our hate against people, and loves towards one... but it didn't stop us."

"You loved..."

"Don't ask." War replied.

"Hey, you got it out of me."

"Don't. Ask."

"War-"

"If you don't want me to break more of your ribs, I suggest you start walking. Now." I turned around and headed for the next exit, trying to process all that just happened...


	5. Chapter 5

As I walked behind War in a dusty hallway, I began thinking about what he had previously told me.

_You're terrible! _I began. _Why would you ask Death to kill you?! I didn't know... but I'm not exactly surprised either-_

"You need to pay attention, damn it!" War exclaimed. He was holding angelic cannon, shooting at something. It had a glistening piece of ice in the middle of her chest and dark red skin. It used its razor sharp claws to attempt to scratch at War.

I pulled out the Eye Staff and began shooting at what I assumed to be the Griever. It screamed in pain and then turned towards me. I tried backing up, but it wrapped its claws around my torso and lifted me off of the ground. As much as I tried to get free, its grip got tighter, crushing my broken ribs even more. War shot the Griever, leaving a large burn patch on the middle of its neck. The creature dropped me, making me fall hard against the tile floor. It reared back, snarled at the Horseman, and then jumped through a hole in the wall. War walked over to me as I lied on the ground, cringing from the pain in my shattered ribs.

"You can't go two minutes without injuring yourself, can you?" War sarcastically asked as he helped me to my feet.

"Well, you're the one who broke them." I replied.

"You could have stayed behind."

"You're an idiot."

"And you're hard to negotiate with."

"We both get it from Death."

War shrugged. "Most likely. Now, speaking of Death-"

_Great. Here we go again…_ I thought.

"-what is it you're not telling me?"

"Seriously… not right now."

War tried to keep me from falling as we walked. But it seemed the more I tried to get away or walk ahead, the more he wanted to talk.

"So, Death-"

"Shut up." I cut him off.

"Why? I'm not allowed to-"

"No."

"Okay, fine. I just want to ask-"

"Are you kidding? Don't piss off the ally with broken ribs. Especially if you're the one who broke them."

"-about your ribs." He finished.

"Oh." Was the only thing I could think to say.

"Sit down." He ordered.

"I'm fine. Really-"

"Stop talking and sit down."

After some protest, War finally got me to relax so he could bandage my ribs once more. When I saw the wound, the skin had begun to heal so I couldn't see my still broken ribs. Before wrapping the cloth around the wound this time, War walked off and found two curved pieces of driftwood from a nearby river. He put them on each side of my torso, making a brace to keep the ribs from breaking more.

"Okay, War," I began as he finished wrapping it up. "I have a proposal for you."

"Shoot." He replied without looking up.

"You tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

"What do you want to know then?"

"About Death and this _love _of his."

War snickered. "Is someone jealous?" I just stared at him with a blank face. "I don't remember much about her… she was very light hearted and funny even no one accepted her other than Death. She looked a lot like you though. Death is usually cold when he meets someone, but with her, it was _instant._"

_Damn… _I thought. _If I ever see him again, I need to apologize._

"I've kept my part of the bargain, Alice."

"Like you said about the other," I began. "Our reaction was almost instant. Death always stayed by my side; he made me feel like I wasn't going absolutely mad even though I was. He was always making me laugh, and one day I showed him what had happened to my family and he showed me what happened to all of yours. In the end he had helped me discover what happened to my family and who had been corrupting my mind."

"What happened?"

I sighed. "Late at night, a house fire struck and killed my family. I had time to jump out the window, but my family was trapped and they burned to death. My doctor in the asylum they kept me in had tried to convince me that my cat knocked over a lamp and started the fire, but the doctor was the one who broke in and began the fire in the first place, planning to kill us all."

For the first time in a while, War looked up. "You and Death got revenge, I assume?"

I grinned. "We pushed him in front of a train."

War chuckled and helped me stand up again. The brace that he had prepared made the pain ease, so it was easier to walk. The Watcher returned, only to state the obvious.

" I think all you managed to do was piss the Griever off! Let's find her and finish the job. My god, War, what did you do to the girl?!" He exclaimed, looking at my covered wound.

"He has anger issues." I replied for him. The Watcher narrowed all six of its eyes and returned to the gauntlet.

Throughout the entire place, we had to fight off the spawn children of the Griever, come across rooms half full with water, or using bombs to break open steel doors. Much like the cathedral, there were hundreds of puzzles that we needed to solve. Old subways were scattered everywhere, so we used that to our advantage as well. Every once and a while, we would have to find a different route because the blood from my exposed ribs would get into the water and attract electric eels.

We would have to stop for a while after a few hours of walking so War could find different cloth and keep my ribs covered. We argued as he fixed it, but for the most part they were beginning to heal. Soon we found a small arena coated in algae and moss with a large piece of ice in the middle. We jumped into it and saw another chained down container (like in the cathedral) glowing lightning blue. War broke the container free, and it began to split into different pieces. He then walked up to it and a small gauntlet dropped out of it. War put it onto his wrist and turned towards the ice.

"I really don't think you need _another_ gauntlet, War. From what I see, you have _plenty _of armor." I said.

The new piece then surrounded itself in ice blue flames, and War slammed his fist into the ground in front of the ice. The floor shook violently, making the ice shatter. War moved his hand out of the crater that he had just created, and then walked back towards me.

"I stand corrected, bad ass." I teased. As usual, War's face stayed completely drained of any emotion whatsoever. He walked past me, and I followed. Before we could climb out of the arena, something rammed its razor sharp horns into War's back. He swung his fist with the new gauntlet on it. As soon as it made contact with the demon, its neck shattered, making the snap echo across the room. I looked at War and saw his back was trickling with blood. Not surprisingly, he didn't acknowledge it was there.

I rolled my eyes and looked at him. The horn left a hole in War's back that looked about two inches deep. I walked away from him as he climbed up the side of the arena. The demon that War killed had pieces of clean, deep blue fabric strung around it. I grabbed a long piece and ran back up to War. I guess he thought I wasn't behind him, because when I tapped him on the shoulder, the flat of Chaoseater slammed into the side of my head. _Hard. _I staggered back, and War turned around.

"Oops." He said. "You okay?"

"Totally… fine…" I tried to reply, but it was almost completely unintelligible. I shook my head a few times, but that only made my mouth taste more like blood. Trying to ignore it, I made a motion with my hands, telling him that I was going to try to stop the bleeding in his back. I wrapped the navy blue fabric around him and tied it in the front. But when I pulled the knot tight, it felt like all of the blood went everywhere but my head, so I fell unconscious. And I would have _sworn_ that in the corner of my eye, I saw the ice pale, black haired, magma color- eyed man, Death…

_Death and I stood, backing Doctor Bumby onto the train tracks. _

"_Who the hell is that?!" Bumby asked with a panicked tone in his voice. _

"_Just some stranger." I replied. I stuck my foot our, kicking the doctor into the tracks as a train came, sweeping him away. Death and I walked out of the tunnel and stood in the cross of London and Wonderland. _

"_So…" Death trailed off, making my heart begin to race._

"_So," I replied. _

"_Alice, you have to come with me." _

"_What?"_

"_I couldn't take it. You need to come."_

"_Death… you know the Council would never allow it. Plus, what about your brothers? I would become a laughing stock in front of them… and they would never take their big brother seriously, would they?"_

_Death sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. But, I still wish you could."_

"_How to you think I feel?" I asked, trying to smile. "I'm going to be alone in London."_

_He didn't know how to reply. I took the necklace from my neck and handed it to him. He grabbed it, summoned Despair, and strung it around the horse's neck._

"_Now you know that whenever I'm with Despair, I'm thinking of you."_

_I took his mask off and pressed my lips against his. After a moment, I let him go and shoved his mask against his chest. _

"_Promise me I'll see you again." I said._

"_Alice, I don't-"_

"_Promise."_

_He sighed. "I promise."_

_Death mounted Despair as he put his mask back on. We exchanged a few last words, and then horse and rider disappeared into the mist…_

"Damn it!" I exclaimed, quickly sitting up. War was turned around, gazing into a small rushing river. He quickly spun around and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"What's wrong?" War asked, obviously caught off- guard by my yell.

"N-nothing…" I replied, shaking my head. I tried to stand up but felt extremely dizzy.

"By the looks of it, I might have given you a concussion."

"And _why_ do you seem so casual about that?"

"Well, I can't say it's my first time damaging someone in the head." I didn't reply. War helped me to my feet, but after that it wasn't so difficult to move. We were about to jump into the raging river, but War stopped me.

"So," He said, making me jump. "You.. _Talk _in your sleep?"

"Damn it…" I replied. I remembered getting complaints from my neighbors back in London for talking in my sleep. No matter how much they would come knocking at my door in the middle of the night, begging for me to shut up, I couldn't. "What did I say?"

"Well, it's not exactly the first time, but you were talking about Despair and some kind of necklace… Oh. That's where that came from."

I was confused. "Okay… you lost me somewhere."

"That horseshoe charm on Despair's neck. That was yours?" He asked but I didn't answer. "Hey, it was a fair question."

I turned around. "I gave it to him to remember me by."

"Ah."

"If you and Death weren't close," I began. "How do you remember her?"

He knew I was talking about Death's love. "Firstly, because I couldn't get him to shut up. Secondly, before we became allies, when I was a child, I saw them and wanted what they always had when I got older."

I almost froze. I almost couldn't believe that War envied his brother back then. I sighed, and we dropped into the frigid water. We soon found that the river ran to make a waterfall. We fell to the bottom, slamming against the cold metal ground.

After a minute or two, I stood up and dusted myself off, and then looked around. We stood in an old subway station rusting away. War walked until the tracks were blocked by the ceiling that had collapsed on top of it. As I watched War, he became shaded by the Griever who was standing in the hole in the ceiling.

It tried to crush War underneath her weight, but he was too fast. He walked backwards towards me as I crouched behind an old cart, still on its tracks. The Griever snarled and snapped her claws at us. War wrapped his fingers around the back of the cart and began to pull it backwards.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, backing up next to him. Once his back touched the wall, he used the new gauntlet to push as much power as he could into the cart. It went racing forward, hitting the Chosen in the leg, cracking the bone incased in its flash. War ran up to it and began trying to break the ice froze to its stomach. The Griever powered through the pain that it felt in its shattered limb to use its arm to throw War across the room. He hit the wall opposing to the enemy, but stayed standing up. He ran over to the cart and began pulling it back again.

"Get on." He ordered.

"What? Why-"

"Don't argue, just do it." I climbed on top of the cart, and War got it all the way back. "Okay, girl. Surprise me."

I smirked, pulled out the Vorpal Blade, and turned back around. I knelt down and picked at the dry blood plastered to the blade as he slammed his fist into the cart, violently shoving it forward. As the cart got closer to the Chosen, I stood up. Right before the metal came in contact with it; I jumped off and rammed the Vorpal blade into the ice from the air. The rusty cart plowed into her broken leg once more, kicking the back wheels up from the force. She reared back in pain as I pulled the blade out. War walked up to the cart to only back it up a few feet.

The beast's jaw hung directly in the path of the cart, so War used it to his advantage. He repeatedly rammed the front into her mouth, dislocating if not shattering her jaw. After the last blow, the Griever was almost to the point of dying. War walked up to her exposed heart where the ice once was, and ripped it out, leaving loose blood vessels spitting. War began walking towards me, and we started to climb out of the station through the hole in the ceiling.

"When was the last time you've seen Death?" I asked. "Before passing out, I remembered seeing him run towards us."

"When he had just returned from you imagination. Why-"

"Are you _sure?"_

War sighed in annoyance. "Yes, Alice. I'm sure. He almost decapitated me for calling you a raging lunatic. You were probably hallucinating."

I chuckled. "Okay, just making sure."

He rolled his eyes and we kept walking. As I stood behind him, I realized my ribs didn't hurt as much. I looked at the wound, unwrapped it, and saw that the skin looked almost completely normal. I must've been out for longer than I thought. Unfortunately, when I put my hand on it, the pain returned. I winced, but stayed quiet as I rewrapped my torso. I caught up to War, and after that it wasn't long before returning to Ulthane. We got into his yard, and the hammer stood where it was when we first entered. War walked up to it, but this time he had no trouble picking it up.

He tightened his grip on the handle, and I smirked. He looked towards me and motioned his head, telling me to walk. We entered a small hallway. At the end, we heard a different hammer repeatedly crashing into a piece of metal. The end of the hall was blocked off by a large piece of wood. War tried to break it loose, but it wouldn't budge. I got his attention, pointed at the hammer, and then to the door. He stared at me blankly for a moment, but nodded and began to back up. I stood against the wall with my eyes shut as the hammer flew past me and into the wood. It snapped, leaving a hole for us to walk through, but it didn't stop there. The hammer kept flying through the air, coming inches from hitting Ulthane in the face before crashing into a nearby wall.

"Welcome back, Horseman." The Black Hammer said without looking up from his work bench. "You could've knocked, but I suppose that isn't your way, is it?"

"Why are you here?" War asked.

"Strange question, seeing how you're the one who broke into _my _house!"

"You weren't always the Black Hammer. You huddle in exile; a hermit among tombstones. Why? What role did you play in this, Ulthane?"

"Horseman… I've got something for you. A fair bit of work, but it's a bit dainty for me. 'Might suit you better."

Ulthane grabbed a large handgun off of his bench and threw it to him. Once War had it in his hand, he held it a few feet from the Black Hammer's head.

"You didn't answer my question, Old One."

"Maybe I like the scenery. What's it to you? You asked for my help, and I gave it. You go on being ungrateful and I'm liable to get upset." War didn't answer. He only loaded the gun. Ulthane walked up to him and pressed his forehead to the top of the pistol. "Do I look like I'm afraid of death, _boy?"_

War stood still for a moment, but put the gun away and started to walk. "It's not Death you should fear."

Before we could walk away, Ulthane stopped us. "Not so fast, War." Neither one of us turned around. "I don't think anyone fears Death if the… _rumors _are true." I looked back for a moment to find Ulthane staring right back at me. I narrowed my eyes and caught back up with War. "They must be."

"None of that concerns you." The Horseman finally said as we stopped moving.

"Really? Well, it concerns the girl, and the both of you are underneath _my_ roof-"

"Not for long. Alice, lets go." War replied, using the side of his gun to push me forward.

Ulthane let out a long laugh. "Alice? Hmm. Death really has gone soft on us all."

"War," I finally said, making sure the Old One could hear me. "In my opinion, it might be easier if you just killed him now."

"It would appear so!" Ulthane butted in. "Well, you're welcome to, human, Heh, I bet your little Death would laugh at your attempt-"

He was cut off by one of the bullets going through his arm and out the other side, hitting the concrete. War had shot him. I flinched at the sound, and he walked over to Ulthane, who knelt down and was now holding onto his arm.

"I said. That it didn't. Concern you."

He narrowed his eyes at War as we walked out of his home. Once we were outside, we found Vulgrim who was holding open a Serpent Hole for us. Without saying a word we walked in, and once again a major blur came over me. We ended back where Samael was. As we walked up to the arena, my head began to ache and my vision blurred.

War chuckled. "Serpent Holes are demonic. They're hard on human souls. That might be what's causing your head to-"

"Or the fact that you gave me a concussion with Chaoseater." I said, rolling my eyes as we walked up to Samael.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" The demon asked. "War, Alice, and the Black Hammer 'plucking pigeons.'"

"You see a great many things from inside a prison, Samael."

"There is little you can keep from me, Horseman. Once I have a mind to know it."

"And what do you know of Uriel?"

"Oh, I thought a Horseman were above such earthly pursuits."

"She believes I killed Abaddon."

"The Hell guard worshiped their fallen lord and leader. And Uriel… some might say her admirations was less than professional. She will stop at nothing to punish the ones responsible."

"We fought the demon who killed Abaddon. And he will be punished."

"Straga is the strongest of the Chosen. No doubt you'll face him again; he draws power from the spire. He won't stand to be away from it for long. With all I have taught you, you might even survive the reunion."

"Who's heart will you have, demon?" War asked.

"The Stygian is king of the ancient worms that now plague the Ashland's. It won't be easy. The worms grow well in such fertile ground."

"Fertile?"

"Fertile with death. Decay. All the land is covered in it. The ashes of the dead. But you may be in luck… it seems that some fool demons have taken to capturing the worms for sport. The strongest are made to fight in cruel arenas. The demons seek to tame the Stygian. Not knowing that within the monster, there beats a black heart of the Chosen."

"How do the demons avoid the ash worms?"

"You know of the Chronosphere?"

"A gift of the Old Ones. It is said that to master the Chronosphere is to master time itself. One could stop time, or even move it forward or back."

"Indeed." Samael replied. "None of the old masters exist, but the demons have learned to use them to a lesser degree… I can grant you a basic understanding of the Chronosphere. It won't be much; perhaps just enough to avoid the worms."

"Perhaps?"

"Perhaps not. What in this life is certain, Horseman? Other than our word of course?" War didn't answer. We began to walk back out of the arena.

"I didn't expect you to shoot him." I finally said without looking at him.

"He deserved it."

"Why?"

"First of all, he doesn't speak about Death that way. Second, now that you've told me… I'm permitted to stick up for you. That means more fun for me."

"Right," I replied, chuckling.

"Now, I believe you might need more than a mere blade to defend yourself here." He took out the gun Ulthane had given him and handed it to me. "Mercy. It's my brother's pistol. I wonder how the Old One got hold of Strife's gun, but it doesn't matter now."

"I find it funny how you trust a ;madwoman' with a gun."

"Well, I never said I didn't believe you when you told me you weren't mad."


	6. Chapter 6

Without a word, we traveled through old, large, rusty sewage pipes and fought off demons. We soon come to find a big open area. Angels swept down to attack, but I used my newly equipped gun, Marcy, to shoot them. Once all of them were dead, and the gunfire silenced, we began walking again.

"How are you such a good shot?" War asked.

"My father was a policeman and a hunter. He showed both me and my older sister how to defend ourselves at an early age with a gun."

"Wise of him… even though he couldn't keep you from Death."

I smiled. "Was that pun intended-"

"Yes. Yes it was."

I grinned as we turned right to walk underneath a bridge. War had no trouble walking in top of the ashes, but for me it was knee deep. He watched me try to walk through the dust; he must have gotten annoyed, because he grabbed my arm and dragged me through it. Once we reached hard ground, he let me go and I fell. With sand and ashes coating the inside of my mouth, I did my best to ignore it. I stood up and began walking again.

"Are you okay?" War asked with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"I'm fine, War." I croaked back. "Just because you're 'permitted' to stick up for me doesn't mean you have to watch-"

I stopped talking to feel an extreme pain in my arms and legs. I looked over and watched razor sharp teeth sink into my skin. The creature that grabbed me was a fleshy red with some kind of green fluid coming out of any open space in it. I didn't move as it began to draw blood. When I couldn't stand the pain anymore, I moved my hand just enough to pull Mercy from my dress pocket. I squinted to keep the green fluid from dripping into my eyes as I looked up. The heart of the creature that held me was completely exposed, dripping blood on my face and into my hair. I pointed the gun to the heart and pulled the trigger. The bleeding heart burst, making at least a gallon of blood spill over my head. The creature released its grip, but the teeth were so far dug into my flesh that it held me in the air.

"Are you _sure _about that?" War sarcastically asked as I tried to get out of the grip of the deceased creature. I finally just got frustrated and ripped my arms free, deeply cutting my arms open. "It doesn't look like you're having a very good day, does it?"

"No, not in a very peachy mood," I replied.

War chuckled. "We'll find some water. You're soaked in blood."

After a few minutes, with the blood crusted into my hair, we found a small river trickling down into a puddle on out level. War walked off to kill more demons and I began to wash the dry blood out of my hair and off of my dress. By the time I was done, the blood had soaked in to my dress, in which was already falling apart. I sighed and closed my eyes. Like when I killed Bumby in London with Death, I turned around and I was wearing my blue dress and white, blood splattered apron.

"Screw it." I said to myself.

War walked up to me with his eyes widened. "That's…interesting."

"Trust me. That's not all." I said, chuckling as I watched the Cheshire cat sneak up on a ledge behind him.

"Hello…" The cat said in War's ear. The Horseman spun around and grabbed him by the neck, and held him out arm length. As the cat scratched at War's metal gauntlet, trying to get free, I watched him and laughed at his attempt.

"Is this your cat?" War asked.

"Yeah-"

"On what _planet_ is that a cat?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe in my imagination?"

"I don't think it's a cat. It's a parasite!"

"Yeah, very funny. Now let him go. I don't want to kill him. _Yet._" I replied, narrowing my eyes at the cat that was now turning blue. War shrugged and dropped him to the ground. He hiss at him and evaporated.

"Damn, Alice! How-"

I pointed to my dress, cutting him off. "Fantasy side. I can switch it on and off as I choose. And my other dress was falling apart."

"Yes, that was probably a wise choice then."

I mumbled something under my breath that was so unintelligible that I didn't even know what it was. I began walking past him again. He tried to guide me across steep ledges of across gaps, but I did my best to keep my distance. Whenever I showed my hallucination side, I would get on edge _very _easily. We walked through a large tunnel, and on the other side was an open area without floors; only a sea of ashes. Floating above us in the air was a piece of rock with a blue flashing circle in the middle. War pulled out the cross blade and tried to strike it, but kept missing.

"Need some help?" I teased. I lifted Mercy from my pocket and shot the small blue target. The colorful post- apocalyptic world began to turn black and white like a new movie. War took a step into the ashes, and he slipped about knee deep. But when I took a step, I immediately sank. Before I went completely under, I grabbed the edge of the road that I was just standing on. I looked behind me and watched War run through the ashes, not knowing that I was stuck.

_That must've been the Chronosphere that Samael was talking about. _I thought. In slow motion, I watched something ascend out of the ashes. Towards me. I tried to lift myself out of it, but the ash was having a molasses effect on my body, making it difficult to. The Chronosphere was wearing off, and it began to speed up. _And that must be one of the worms Samael was talking about. _

It got closer and closer, almost faster than I could pull myself out. The worm pulled its mouth out of the ashes, exposing its razor sharp teeth. In time, I reached back down into the ash, grabbing the gun from my pocket and aiming it at the worm. Out of sheer luck, I fired the gun and it hit the worm's uvula. It made an ear- piercing scream and descended back into the dry sea.

I sighed in relief. "Thank god!" I said out loud. "Wait a minute… I couldn't have killed it with one bullet… oh damn."

I used my scrawny arms to pull myself out of the ashes, just in time. The worm burst out of the spot that I was in seconds before, but missed. Again, I felt relieved as it disappeared back into the sea. I rolled over on my back, moved my right hand and laughed. It felt numb. I giggled at the feeling, but when I looked at it, I froze. My heartbeat rang in my ears at the sight of my right hand. It was gone. The worm must've gotten it when it tried to grab me. I was shocked. My right hand wasn't there, only a pool of blood spitting out of my wrist.

"Alice!" I faintly heard War yell across the place; my eyes were still wide at my wrist. I slowly turned my head and looked the other way. He was far on the other side, looking at me. Shaking, I moved my left hand to grab Mercy. I shot the blue target once more, thinking how lucky I am to be left handed. The Chronosphere activated once more, and I watched war run across. As I began hyperventilating from the pain, War finally got to me. As soon as he was on solid ground, he was on his knees, looking at my arm. He unwrapped the navy blue cloth that I had enveloped his bulky chest in and held it to my wrist.

"Go." I managed to say. He held the fabric tighter to me without answering. I was beginning to get dizzy from blood loss. "I'm only a nuisance… on your trip."

"I will _refuse _to let my brother's love die _again!"_ War snapped. "And I'm sure as _hell _not going to leave you out here to be eaten by the demons!" I stopped breathing so quickly. The Chronosphere wore off again, but I could hardly notice. I did my best to stay conscious, but I knew I couldn't for long. War leaned over to look at me, but I saw three of him. My eyes began to get weary. "Keep breathing, Alice." I could tell he was trying to hold back the panic in his voice.

I gave him a small smile and used my left hand to grab his shoulder. "You're a good brother…" I was going to say more, but my head fell back and I closed my eyes. From that point was the last thing I remembered.

_Through the shining sun, a tall skinny man walked with a book clutched to his chest. He kicked a stone along his path as he walked; his glistening orange eyes were locked to the ground. He wore a tight black tee shirt that covered his pale blue skin and long jeans. His shoulder length, raven black hair covered his right eye. He heard cruel laughter come from his right, so he looked up._

_Underneath a tree were five people about the same age as him, throwing punches at a little kid. The child had ice white hair that matched almost perfectly with his eyes that stared directly back at the man. The small boy clenched his fists as one of the guys pulled out a knife and cut his lip open. The man who was walking dropped his book, ran over to the man with the knife, turned him away from the child and took the weapon._

_"What are you doing, Absalom?" He softly asked, his orange eyes gleaming._

_"What's it to-" He was cut off by the man using his skin tight fist to punch him. His eyes rolled back; the others caught him as he fell and began to drag him away. Listening to the comments of astonishment from the conscious men, he dropped the bloody knife and got to his knees._

_"Are you okay, child?" He finally said with his deep voice. The boy didn't answer; he just tucked his knees up and looked ahead. "What's your name?"_

_With a high, velvety voice, he replied. "War."_

_"Well, War, you need to learn to defend yourself."_

_"Who are you? W-why did you-"_

_"I'm Death. And do you honestly think I could keep walking if I saw them hurting you?"_

_"Everyone else does." War blankly replied._

_Death sighed and shifted to sit next to him. "Not me. We'll get revenge on them one day, child. I'll promise you that."_

_War slightly grinned. Death patted him on the shoulder and stood up._

_"Death?" They heard a female voice say. They both looked up and saw a girl with black hair like Death's and emerald green eyes. War raised one of his snow white eyebrows as Death walked over to the girl and pressed his lips against hers. "Miss me?" She teased._

_"You know," Death finally said with his forehead against hers. "You're odd, Aurelia, you really are."_

"You disappoint me, Horseman." I heard someone say. "You look quite small from up here."

My eyes opened and I found myself sitting against a metal gate. I looked at my right hand, praying that I was dreaming when I lost it, but I wasn't. It was wrapped up in white cloth, but War must've put the handle of the Vorpal blade into the gauze, so my hand was replaced by a weapon. I used my left hand to help myself stand. Turning around, I looked through the gate and saw War looking at his enemy. The only thing strange was that his enemy was mounted on a dark black horse with flames rising from its hooves.

"You can look me in the eye when I kill you." War replied.

_What the hell? _I thought. _That's ruin!_

"Let's see how you fare, Horseman, with only two legs to carry you."

War began striking at Ruin's rider. Confused, I looked around to find a switch that would open the gate. After minutes of searching, I finally got frustrated and shot the hinges off. The gate flew open, but neither of the two stopped to look. I ran into the arena, and War jumped over his horse, grabbing the demon's head that was riding him. He pulled him off horseback and threw him across the room. War looked at the sword he was wielding and kicked it, making the demon grab it once more.

I rolled my eyes and snuck behind Ruin's rider. Quietly before he was going to strike, I used the Vorpal blade on my right wrist to rip the legs off of him. The demon fell to the ground, and War picked him up by the horns and looked him in the eye as he rammed Chaoseater into his chest. Once the Horseman began to walk away, I knelt down to the fallen warrior. On his wrist was a piece of armor. I slipped it off of him, took the Vorpal blade out of the gauze, and put it on. There was a button on the side that I pressed with my hand, and out came a large, thin piece of metal. As I retracted the sword from the hidden blade, I watched the reunion take place. Ruin, still alive, used all of his force to ram into War.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the Watcher impatiently asked. "That thing's lost its mind! Kill it!" the horse again knocked down his stubborn rider. "Enough I said. Finish it."

"Ruin…" War finally said. He slammed Chaoseater into the ground and released it. "I won't fight you."

"You fool! I _order _you to break that nag!"

"And if I refuse, you'll kill me? I'll take my chances."

Ruin ran towards War again. He got closer and closer, but the Horseman didn't move. Once the horse reached him, he closed his eyes as he passed right through him. I widened my eyes in relief as Ruin allowed War to mount. More demons came running; horse and rider reared back, grabbed Chaoseater, and charged.

I activated my blade once more, and began to kill the demons. The gate I had forced open let three different demonic riders into the mix. Two of the three looked strangely familiar to Despair, but the one on the middle caught my eyes. It was completely dark with inky black smoke forming out of its hooves. It was significantly smaller than the rest, but that didn't stop the rider. Throughout the entire time in the arena, that horse didn't take its eyes off of me. War and Ruin cut down most of the demons, and when all but that horse and its rider remained, it stopped in front of me. I began breathing faster as I gazed into the sapphire blue eyes of the beast.

"Delirium!" The rider exclaimed, kicking the horse. "Move or so help me I'll-"

Before the demon could finish, its horse bucked him from the saddle he sat in, flinging him towards me. I used the blade to stab him in the heart, making him fall. The horse (apparently named Delirium) slowly began walking towards me. As soon as it got close enough, it ducked its head down, inviting me to mount. Uneasy about it, I used my hand to put myself into the saddle. Once I was mounted, I looked at the horse's neck and saw a bright flaming blue tattoo of a Jupiter sign on its neck. Smirking at the horse, we got up to War and Ruin.

"Find yourself a friend?" He sarcastically asked.

"Maybe I didn't."

He looked at me strangely. "What?"

"I-I mean maybe I did… I don't really know what I'm saying."

"It's probably from the blood loss… Come on." We walked through a newly opened path. "You don't seem too surprised about your hand."

"Oh, trust me. I'm freaking out in my face." He raised an eyebrow. "What? That made no sense. I meant I'm freaking out in my head, not my… don't ask. Just don't ask."

War shook his head in laughter as we approaches another sea of ashes. The same worm that took my hand came by us, and I smirked. The Horseman ran into the dust with Ruin, so we followed. Delirium ran as fast as he could through the ashes as I grabbed Mercy and sat backwards in the saddle. I watched the worm begin to catch up to us. It lifted its mouth out once more, and I began to shoot at its throat, making it retreat back into the sand. This time when it tried to come back up, it missed due to Delirium's speed.

As the horse turned back around, I tried standing back up on his back and watched the worm ascend into the air. Before it began to come back down, I jumped from his back and rammed the Vorpal blade deep into its skin with my hand. I heard War yell in protest as the blade began to slide down the worm, spraying me with blood. The blade slammed into a piece of metal around it, and popped out. I feel, but Delirium caught me before I got to the dust.

In my attempt, the new top of my right wrist began bleeding through the fabric. The ash worm disappeared back into the ash. War and Ruin ran beside us, so I grabbed Mercy and threw it to him. He caught it and began firing at the worm once ore. Delirium carried me back to dry ground. I didn't know why, but he forced me to dismount and refused to let me back.

"What? We need to go help War and Ruin." I told the horse, even though I knew he couldn't verbally answer. Delirium used his snout to point to my bleeding wrist. "So? It doesn't matter. We have to go." The horse glared at me with soft eyes. "Oh, fine." I finally gave in and unwrapped the gauze. Even though the pain physically and mentally was almost too much to bear, I got the gauze off and began looking around for a replacement. I winced as the blood began to fall against the floor, but I found an old curtain and wrapped it around it, slowing the bleeding. Once it mostly stopped, I wrapped the cloth completely around it, and Delirium allowed me to mount.

I put the wrist blade around the fabric, holding it there, and we returned to the ashes. War and Ruin were running from the worm as he shot at it, so I got an idea. We ran toward the back of the worm. Once we reached it, I again rammed the blade on my wrist deep into its skin. This time, I didn't take it out. The horse ran faster and faster as the blade was slicing the worm open. I grinned once we got to its neck. War and Ruin were close to being torn to shreds by the worm's massive teeth, so it was a good thing that right then was when I broke its jaw. Once it did, the creature stopped moving and lied in the middle of the sea of ashes, War and I looking at it as it sunk. Neither of us said a word as we began walking back to the other side of the sand and into an old concrete hallway. War dismounted from Ruin, and the horse disappeared into the ground, leaving us to walk.

The long pathway took what seemed like forever to get to the end of. Demons trying their hardest to kill us, but in the end always failing. The pain in my wrist was _really _pissing me off at this point. At some point after walking for hours, I had to take the piece of armor off of my wrist and clip it to Delirium's armor because the swelling made the pain much worse. As I dad, War remembered to return Mercy to me. But for melee attacks, I returned to the Vorpal Blade.

As we winded through the halls, I began thinking about the dream I had. Did War mean to show that to me? I remembered back in Wonderland, I had accidentally saw Death's future, but not his past… I was getting confused. I stopped concentrating on that because I felt War's ice cold gauntlet grab my arm and pull me back. I looked ahead and realized that id he didn't I would've walked straight into another pit of the ashes. We summoned the horses and ran in towards a large crowd of demons. None of them were looking at us; they all had their attention fixed on what they had captured. A worm much bigger than the previous one was being held in the air by chains, trying to get free. It did its best to try to rip itself out of the metal grip, but it failed. Next to me, Ruin snorted, attracting the attention of a few of the demons. As they turned around, War handed me Harvester.

"I don't think my brother would mind too much if you used this." War teased. I grinned as all of the demons began to turn to face us. I went one way, and War went another. With Harvester I did my best to kill them from horseback and with only one hand. Once all of them were fallen, disappearing into the ashes, we watched the Stygian use all of its force to finally jerk the chains free, letting itself loose into the sea of ash.

With Delirium accompanying me, it didn't take us long to kill the third of the Chosen. There was a small delay, though, because the demons had put a strong brace over the worm's mouth to keep it from swallowing them. The inside of the Stygian's mouth being the only weak spot of the creature; we had to bust it off. Once the worm's mouth was exposed, I had to do something I thought I would _never _have to do.

War and I threw Mercy back and forth on horseback, confusing the Stygian and making it easier to injure. Once it was on the brink of death, the horseman had it chase him the around the field. Delirium stopped for a moment as War turned the Chosen's attention towards me. The Stygian charged towards me, so the smoky black horse did the same. As the distance between us lessened, I shifted so I sat on my knees, grabbing Harvester. Once I knew I could, I jumped from the horse's saddle. The Stygian, with its mouth wide open, must not have expected me to jump through its rows of teeth and into its body.

After that, I hardly remember anything. I could see absolutely nothing; I only used Harvester to swing at random, cutting blood vessels and listening to muffled screams of the Stygian from above. At one point, the scythe hit something strangely hard. I brought myself over to it.

_That must be the heart. _I told myself. I released Harvester and put my hand on top of the Chosen's heart. As soon as I did, I felt as if I got struck by lightning. Repeatedly. I knew a Chosen's heart was powerful, but I never gave much thought to _how _powerful. Shaking inside of the Stygian's body, I felt like I was going to die. I had no idea how to escape, and the power felt indescribably painful. Right when I gave up, falling limp in the body, accepting that I was dying, the Stygian looked as if it filled with light from my closed eyes.

"Alice?" I heard War's voice boom above me. I flinched, but I was shaking so much that I couldn't open my eyes nor try to answer. "Alice, you're not breathing."

War took my hand off of the heart and picked it up. As soon as my hand left the organ, I began gasping for air. I used my left hand to wipe the loose gore off of my face, but it didn't do much; only allowed me to partially open my eyes. I looked round, finding myself lying in the Stygian's dead body. The power from me gripping the heart caused the worm to explode. War did his best to help me to my feet, but I was shaking so much that he couldn't keep me still. Delirium walked up to me and just stared. He nudged me in the shoulder, and when I was too shocked to react, he whined at the horseman.

"Yes, I know, horse. She'll be fine, I assure you. Alice," War turned his attention to me, making me flinch again. "I swear I _still _don't find you that friendly, let alone enough to get a horse to turn on its masters."

"I-it…"

He chuckled. "Feeling powerful?" the horseman slapped me on the shoulder and I flew forward, running into Delirium. I did my best to mount, and once I did, I sat on my back in the saddle, using the horse's neck as a pillow. "You gained a lot of power by doing that. Not enough for Samael to notice, that's for sure. If you gained that much power, you would've been dead on the spot."

_Gee, that's great to know. _I thought, rolling my eyes.

"It will take a while before you get used to it."

"I-I-"

"And you might not be able to talk efficiently for a while." I looked at him, frustrated. "We'll find some water and return to Samael."

I did my best not to fall from Delirium's back as he trotted along next to Ruin. After a while, just moments before I was about to doze off, War shook me awake. It surprised me so much that I fell off the horse's back. I expected to fall hard against concrete, but I actually fell into water. The cold shocked me for a moment, but I felt relieved as I opened my eyes. Scrubbing the blood out off of me, I looked around and saw bright green seaweed growing in the small pool, pieces of broken wood scattered everywhere. The sight reminded me of Barrel bottom. For a few moments, I looked closer into the water and would have _sworn _that I saw Death, carrying me through the streets.

_"Put me down!" _I heard myself yell, laughing like crazy.

_"Never!"_ He replied.

The hallucination faded back into the water. I tried to sigh, but began to choke. Like an idiot, I forgot I was underwater. I did my best to swim up as fast as possible through the blood that had just came off of me. I burst through the top of the water, taking as many ragged breaths as I could.

"I'm glad I let you kill the Stygian. This is quite entertaining." War chuckled, watching me from the ledge above. I tried to speak, but only random syllables came out. Frustrated, I lifted my shaking hand from the water and stuck my middle finger into the air.

After going back under a few more times to get the remaining blood out of my hair and then got out. Using my fantasy side, I was able to dry myself off without problem. Before we left, I took the cloth tied to my right wrist and began rinsing that out as well. I was still disgusted by my raw arm, but at least the skin began healing over the bone. Once I was finished, I wrapped the fabric back around and put my wrist in my dress pocket, hiding it from the world.

We mounted our horses and went to find Vulgrim. For the third time, we returned to Samael's lair. My headache returned as we walked out of the Serpent Hole, but it wasn't as bad this time (I figured that the power that I had gained must have made the pathways easier on me), and we approached the demon.

"One more… just one more. And then, War, you get your tower." Samael said as he bit into the Stygian's heart. "Silitha's web; the infested lair is far across a great chasm in the Ashlands. Ruin has yet to regain much of his strength, but he will make the distance. As you have probably guessed, Delirium's strength is far greater compared to Ruin's because this one… is not on a leash. As for Silitha, just get there… and she'll find you.

"The Broodmother is a collector of sorts." Samael continued. "Most who enter her realm, she feeds to her young. The ones she takes interest in… _those_ are the unlucky ones. Those she keeps alive. And they live a long time… long enough to tell her things. You could say she collects stories, information…"

"Was stories will she tell me about you, Samael?" War asked.

"Careful!" the demon exclaimed. "Or your ending will be a tragic one! Sometimes… the heroes _die_ in the end. But Horseman… I like stories with a happy ending. Now… Bring me the final heart!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on. It can't be that difficult to speak." War told me as the two horses walked side by side through the ashes once more. With myself still stuttering and shaking like an idiot, War was making me laugh almost to the point where I would come close to falling off Delirium. I sat backwards in the saddle, using the horse's neck as a pillow, and War sat sideways with his elbows on his knees, facing me. I stopped laughing for a moment to clear my throat- even though it sounded odd with my voice cutting out- and took a deep breath.

"Y-you know," I finally managed to say something. "Y-you were s-so ad-adorable when y-you were a k-kid?"

War looked at me strangely. "I don't think 'adorable' and I are on the same terms."

"W-well n-not anymore..."

We both laughed. As we walked through an old wooden walk way, and returned to the ashes, War questioned me again. "So, now that you're talking again..."

_Watch him ask about Death._ I thought.

"How 'in love' are you with my brother? Vise versa as well."

_Told you._ "D-depends on w-what you're w-willing to b-believe."

"Well, he didn't bring you with him, so I figured-"

"I-I made h-him l-leave without m-me."

"W-why?" He mimicked my stuttering, so I kicked him.

"The C-Council and t-the other H-Horsemen."

"Oh, you didn't think we'd like you?"

"W-well, I knew t-that you a-and Strife w-were jackasses, s-so..." I teased.

He narrowed his eyes. "You better watch yourself, Alice. I'm now permitted to tease you about your stuttering."

"I-I'm glad I d-don't have an l-lisp."

War smirked and sat in the correct way in his saddle, so I did the same. We came across a gap in our path. Although, there was a small platform in front of us that was glowing bright green. Delirium walked up and put a hoof onto it. A few small green bricks appeared, but after a moment, they faded back into the cavern.

"Why don't you try running through it, Lefty?"

I looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "L-Lefty? Y-you're going to c-call me that now, a-aren't you?"

"Y-yes I am."

I rolled my eyes and Delirium backed up. Once I instructed him to, he charged forward. The bricks caught the horse's weight, but once we moved on, the smoky plates evaporated. Once we were to the other side, I looked back at War, and Delirium reared up. From the distance, Ruin did the same, but I would have sworn he had his middle finger sticking up in the air. I laughed as he charged to the side I was on, and we started moving again.

"Now," War began again. "Did you ever speak about you and Death to anyone else on Earth?"

"Yes, War. I-I told a-all of my h-hundreds of friends." I sarcastically replied. "W-who in the h-hell would I tell?"

"You must've had someone to talk to."

"N-not a soul. O-other than the C-Cheshire cat, but he's a-always going on about r-riddles and c-crap... I can n-never take him s-seriously."

He looked at me blankly. "For seven human years, you didn't talk to anyone? You must've hated it."

"N-no, I didn't. And I didn't h-hate it. I-I liked the q-quiet."

War rolled his eyes, and we approached another cliff. I looked ahead, but the fog made it difficult to see the opposing side. I looked down to the ashes, and saw that they were replaced by thick spider webs. Layers of it strung from wall to wall. I heard a strange noise; War and I looked at each other and then up. Two spiders (both of them larger then both of us combined) began climbing down. One sunk its teeth into War, and the other did the same to me. And not surprisingly after that, I blacked out.

_"War? Is that you?" War heard someone say behind him. He turned around and found himself looking at an extremely muscular man with black hair, icy blue skin, and magma orange eyes._

_"This is War..." He replied, one of his snow white eyebrows raised._

_The man grinned. "Remember me?" War shook his head. "I saved your life when you were a kid."_

_He thought for a moment, but then his eyes widened. "Death?" The man nodded. "You got... bulky! The last time I saw you, you were all skinny."_

_"I can say the same for you, kid." Death smiled and ruffled War's hood, making it fall back. He quickly put it back over his hair as Death walked past him._

_"Who's that? Your uncle?" War heard someone say sarcastically. The voice startled him, so he quickly spun around. He looked at a girl with lightning blue hair and blood red eyes, looking back at him. She wore a tight, black shirt that covered her wrists, over it a leather jacket, and black jeans. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever once their eyes met, but War finally found the words to reply._

_"N-no," He stuttered. "He's a friend-"_

_"Whoa." She blankly stated, walking up to him. She studied the bright orange tattoo on his forehead, her eyes narrowed. "That's insane."_

_She tried to flip War's hood back, but he only quickly put it back. "Hey!"_

_"What?"_

_"Don't do that."_

_"Why not? Your hair is bad ass."_

_"I don't know. Maybe it makes me look old." War teased. The girl laughed and let her shoulder length bangs cover one of her eyes. "What's your name?"_

_"Xanthe."_

_"War," He gestured out a hand, and she grasped it. They held their handshake for quite a while with their eyes locked._

_"I have to go," She finally said, pointing behind her with her free hand. Just when she started walking, assuming War would let go, he only grabbed her hand tighter and pulled her back, forcing her to lock eyes with him once more._

_"I will talk to you later, Xanthe."_

I gasped for air as I found myself in a large tangle of spider webs. Using my hand to rip away at the webs, I soon got free. Of course, like an idiot, I didn't think before cutting the line that held me thirty feet in the air. I fell to the ground, but the webs cushioned my fall. The impact also loosened the grip, making it easy to get out of. I stood up, made sure that the fall didn't start the bleeding in my right wrist once more. It was dry, so I walked out of the cave I found myself in.

I looked around at an old town, overrun by spiders. It looked strangely familiar, but before I could comprehend what it was, I heard war.

"Hey, Lefty!" He yelled. He was standing on the other side of a bridge held up by more spider webs. As I walked over to him, I thought about my dream.

"Hey! What the hell, War. Why do I keep seeing your memories?" He just looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Hang on. I have an idea."

I walked up closer to him and set my hand on his arm. As soon as I did, I was sucked into another one of his memories.

_Xanthe sat underneath an old tree with a book in her hands. As she studied the pages, she didn't expect for War to came and stand behind her._

_"What'cha reading?" He asked. Xanthe flinched from hearing his voice, dropped the book, and turned around._

_"Damn you!" She exclaimed, trying to hold her smile back but failing. "You scared me."_

_"Oops." War slid down and sat next to her. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Just trying to get some quiet."_

_War nodded. "Then I guess I'm interrupting you."_

_He tried to stand up, but Xanthe pulled him back down to where he sat. "No, no you're not."_

_He chuckled. "You seem like one who would be everywhere with your friends._

_She laughed. "Yeah, right... you're funny, War."_

_"How is that funny?"_

_"'Friends.'"_

_He was quiet for a moment. "You don't have anyone?"_

_"Nope. Just me..."_

_"Oh." He acknowledged. "I can see why. You're so annoying, and... And you blind people with your crazy hair, and-"_

_She cut him off by her laughter as she punched him repeatedly in the arm. As she laughed, War looked at her, shaking his head and grinning. Once she stopped, he slowly pressed his lips against hers. She really didn't seem surprised at all as she kissed him back. They heard laughter come from in front of them, so they looked up. A small group of people stood, snickering at them. War looked at Xanthe, who had her knees tucked up and her face buried in her hands._

_"Hey," War tried to get her attention. He lifted her head up, seeing that he face was cherry red, and got her to her feet. "This is what you do to people like them." War grabbed her hand and pushed down all of her fingers except her middle, and stuck it in the air. They both laughed uncontrollably as the strangers walked away, looking at them like they were insane._

_"Hey, Little Red Riding Hood!" They heard someone say._

_"I have to go. That's my idiot friend, Strife."_

_"I heard that!" Strife yelled again. Before War could walk away, Xanthe grabbed the collar of his hood and kissed him. He smiled and walked towards Strife. His midnight black hair was pulled back, spiking at the tips, making it easy to see his bright golden eyes. His bleach white shirt didn't do very well covering his dark skin. He widened his eyes at what he just saw. "War... what the hell?"_

_He wasn't paying attention. He was still smiling. Strife hit him in the back of the head. "What?! Oh... funny thing." He chuckled._

_Strife grinned smugly. "So, who's that? You never told me anything... and you're so young! I never-"_

_"Shut up. You're not that much older than me. So stop." War began walking, but his friend was right behind him. Strife was going to say something, but War elbowed him in the stomach._

The memory faded, and I looked at War who had moved my hand from his arm. "Lefty. Hello?" I flinched, but looked at him, grinning like Strife in his memory. "What?"

"Oops." I shrugged. "That's k-kind of... useful." I grinned.

"What is?"

"I c-can see people's m-memories. And I just p-practiced on y-yours."

"How do you...?"

"I don't k-know. But it's g-good for b-blackmail..." War stared at me blankly. "No, I'm just k-kidding, Little Red R-Riding Hood."

"Very funny... Wait, what?"

"Y-you heard m-me, Red."

"How do you know that name?" War stood right behind me, so I rammed my elbow into his stomach.

"T-take a guess."

I laughed as he looked at me. He had a grin on his face, but I could tell he was angry. "You little-"

"War," I looked at him with soft eyes. "I w-won't say a w-word."

"I can tell when you're lying, Lefty."

I chuckled. "Okay. I won't. Yet."

War rolled his eyes, and we walked across a different bridge. This one was a lot thinner, and more downhill. Once both of us were on the other side, the bridge collapsed. After that, there were so many things that happened; it was hard to keep track of it all. The massive spiders that knocked War and I unconscious were around, but out of reach. If they weren't, I would've killed them on the spot. Or at least attempt to. Doorways were blocked by spider webs, but War ripped them apart to open more doorways (in which made me cringe every time... I hated the noise). At one point, like the cross blade, we found two metal pieces of wrist armor, one larger then the other, both surrounded in chains with a small arrowhead welded to the top.

"I guess someone knows you're here, Lefty." War told me as he handed me the smaller piece of metal. I put it around my right wrist, and once I did, I looked up at a bright sapphire blue light that caught my eye. War used the grappling hook to grasp the blue light and then retracting it, swinging up and through a glass window. I followed him, crashing to the floor on the opposing side.

More walking, fighting, and arguing as we searched for Silitha. We did find the entrance to the Chosen's lair, but it was blocked. The gate was made up by bright orange smoke; when I tried to walk through it, it was completely solid. Floating around on the gate were five different symbols of spiders engraved into it. Four of them were black, hovering in a circle around the largest white one. I looked at War who studied the symbols. After a moment, he finally turned back towards me.

"There are four spiders," He began. "Two in which brought us here. All of them need to be killed. To save time, if I go one way with Ruin, can you go another way with Delirium without getting killed?"

I grinned. "I-I think we can m-manage."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll b-be fine, Little R-Red Riding Hood."

He was silent for a moment, but then said, "Alright, I'll cut you loose. But, on one condition."

"Being...?"

"You show me a memory of yours with my brother when you return."

I slightly tensed, but agreed. "D-deal."

"Meet me right here once it's killed, Lefty." And that was the last thing he said. He used his grappling hook to get himself across a gap, and then he was gone. I walked up to Delirium, who had already appeared from the ground, and looked down at half of Death's scythe that was clipped to the side of his saddle.

"I'll see y-you again." I whispered, running my only hand across the flat part of the blade, remembering a time when he had it up to my neck. When I had asked him to kill me. I shook my head, trying to forget that memory, but the guilt now haunted me, knowing about Aurelia. I mounted, and the horse slowly began to walk the opposite way.

"Alice," The Cheshire cat appeared on Delirium's head. "You really think you can do this? Alone?"

"W-who says I c-can't?"

"You have one hand, three cracked ribs, and you're a human among a post-apocalyptic world of demons."

"I'm a-aware of that, cat. B-but I have courage. One thing an m-mere cat can n-never master."

"Courage?!" He laughed. "Says the woman who was locked in an asylum for eleven years, and, as a bonus, almost destroyed mankind."

I didn't reply. I kicked Delirium in the side, making him shake his head. Before the cat hit the ground, he evaporated, leaving the horse and I to continue. There were times when I had to dismount to use the grappling hook to get to the other side, but Delirium only returned at the thought of him doing so. When a door finally blocked our way, the horse didn't hesitate. He rammed through it, making the entire building sway. He disappeared back into the ground.

"H-hardhead..." I muttered to myself. I turned around and looked at the room I stood in. Like everywhere else, it was overrun by spider webs. Most everything was destroyed, but there was one table with a dormant candle on top of it. I walked over to it and found a small, thin book. I picked it up and blew most of the dust and ashes off that had settled on top of it. The ink that was plastered on the front was almost unintelligible due to age, but I managed.

"Rutledge Private Clinic and Asylum... Casebook," I read the words out loud. "Physician, H. Bumby... Patient, Alice Liddell..." I started to get angry. "I-It's my casebook..." Flipping to the first page, I read Bumby's absurd thoughts of what I had told him, none of them truthful. I stuck the book in my dress pocket and turned around.

The second glance of the room started to look familiar. An old wooden chair sat close to the desk, one of the legs snapped off and laying beside it, both with the same design. It brought back memories of sharing my hallucinations with Doctor Bumby.

_"Come now, Alice, it's only a dream."_

_"I-It's not a dream, it's a memory... and it makes me sick!"_

The words rang in my ears although no one spoke them. Frustrated, I knocked the dormant candle off of the desk, remembering a time when it was lit.

_"Forget it! Abandon that memory. It's unproductive. Go to Wonderland."_

_"I can't... I'm trapped... in my past..."_

I looked at what used to be Rutledge Asylum. The Cheshire cat appeared on the desk, looking at me for the first time without grinning.

"W-what has become of m-my life?" I said, short of yelling. "I-I was supposed t-to live a normal l-life with my family, b-but Bumby killed t-them, and t-then locked me in an a-asylum! When I was n-nineteen, I almost s-started an apocalypse! And n-now, twenty-seven, I'm running around on the post-apocalyptic world with Death's brother! I fell in love with the Grim Reaper! I-"

"Exactly, Alice." Cat interrupted me as I hid my eyes in my hand. "Out of all of what's happened to you, you finally got a break. Death."

I cleared my throat and wiped the tear off of my face. "You're r-right. He was basically the o-only upside to my life. D-due to that, I was s-saved from the Apocalypse. W-why didn't I just d-die with the rest of t-them?!"

"You're lucky. That's why. You almost died in that fire, you could have gotten yourself killed in Wonderland's apocalypse, and War saved you from the apocalypse he was framed to have started."

I let out a long sigh as he evaporated. I heard a crash behind me, and I spun around. The spider that brought me to what used to be London had crashed through the ceiling. I grabbed Mercy from my pocket and began to fire. Once it began to slow, I dug the tip of the grappling hook into its heart, began retracting it, and once I was close enough rammed the Vorpal blade into its brain, killing it.

Once it stopped moving, I pulled both weapons out of the corpse. I slid down and sat against the body. I tried to close my eyes for a moment because I was immensely tired, but Delirium walked up to me and pushed me. I tried sitting back how I was, but he only did it again.

"Delirium!" I exclaimed at the horse. He only looked at me with his eyes narrowed, acting almost annoyed. "Okay, okay, f-fine."

I stood up and walked toward a broken window of Bumby's old office. At the bottom was the gate with the five symbols on it. Two of the smaller ones were gone, so War must've killed one as well. I heard something come up behind me. I stayed facing the window until I heard the hiss from a second spider rang in my ears. I spun around and rammed the Vorpal blade into its skull. Just to be safe, I shot it a few times with Mercy. Once I was sure it was dead, I looked out at the gate once more and watched another symbol fade.

I mounted Delirium and he began backtracking out of what used to be Bumby's office. It didn't take long to return, but on the way back I read my casebook.

"Really... 'Alice says t-that she knocked the lamp onto the carpet on purpose d-due to an argument h-hours before.' That l-little ass..." I said out loud.

"Ranting to yourself again?" I heard War question from in front of me.

"W-what else am I g-going to do in my free t-time?" I replied he rolled his eyes, and I pointed to Rutledge. "G-guess who was l-locked in there for eleven years?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then looked up and read the sign that said, 'Rutledge Asylum'. "Oh. Now I see. That explains why your face is red."

"What are you talking about?" He knew I had been crying, so I did my best to cover it up. "My face isn't red."

"Right... we'll go with that."

"You're an ass."

"You're welcome."

Confused, I sighed and began to walk next to him on horseback. "Now what are we k-killing?" I asked, bored.

"The Broodmother. Once she is killed, the path to the final chosen will be opened. Now, do you remember our deal?"

"Damn it!" I exclaimed. He was talking about me showing him a memory of Death and I. "I-I was hoping you'd f-forget."

"I forget nothing."

Mimicking the Council, I said, "'You forget your post, Horseman! You forget the law!' According to them, you do."

"Well, that mimicry would be accurate. If the Council was British." I leaned over and punched him in the arm.

"Alright, fine." I thought for a moment, and then put my hand on his shoulder.

_Death had just put his mask back on as he held a piece of cloth to my bleeding face. It was in the Queensland when he had cut my cheek open._

_"It's not a wrong doing..." I tried to convince him. "It's just a scratch."_

_"It's not just a scratch, love." Death mocked my British accent. I grinned, but it moved the cut and I winced, making him angrier at himself. "See? It even hurts you to smile. Damn it!"_

_"Death,"_

_"If I would have just listened. That damn creature and its scythe-"_

_"Death..."_

_"-Just block my attack like it's nothing-"_

_"Death!"_

_"And it bounced back and hit you in the face! I can't imagine-"_

_I cut him off by punching him in the jaw. Hard. Almost enough to knock his mask off._

_"There! Now we're even!" I yelled. _

After that, I moved my hand. War returned to the present and looked at me. He gazed only for a moment, and then returned to the path ahead. I thought he didn't have any comments for a moment, but I was wrong.

"He cut you?" War asked.

"H-he didn't mean to... it was an accident. Really."

"Fair enough."

He heard the sorrow in my voice, so he left it at that. We walked through another broken doorway, and on the other side, the floor collapsed beneath the weight of the two horses and their riders. Delirium and Ruin turned to smoke before they hit the floor, leaving only War and I. We slammed against the ground, and got up almost immediately and began walking out of the hallway we landed in.

On the inside was a circular room with another large piece of ice in the middle. I walked up to it and held my bandaged wrist to it. I thought it would be cold, but something completely different surprised me. The ice began rising out of its place in the ground.

Underneath it was another spider. Larger than all four of the others combined. I thought it was probably the Broodmother. Once she was completely surfaced, she tried to kill me quickly. The spider missed only by a few inches as I got to the ground. She growled, sounding almost annoyed, but stepped over me and turned her attention to the Horseman.

War tried to break the shell on her back with his fist, but it only kept bouncing back. I got to my feet and began to back up. Looking at the ceiling, I gazed at the Broodmother's previous victims wrapped from head to toe in the spider's silk gauze and hanging by a thread from the ceiling. As War distracted the beast, I used the hook on my right wrist to grab one of he dead bodies and pull it to me. I did my best to pick it up with one hand as I got War's attention. Once I did, he ran over to me and grabbed the corpse just before I could drop it. He threw it at the spider's head, making it collapse on the old wooden floor.

The both of us then ran over to it and began to dig into her flesh. War dug Chaoseater into her back. She screamed as the armor began to collapse and crack, exposing her bloody skin. We had knocked the Broodmother unconscious, but I knew not for long. The hole he made in the armor was around my size, so War looked at me.

"Hell no." I told him before he could suggest anything.

"Hey, you saw Xanthe."

"Wow. My blackmail idea is backfiring on me." I said with a stupid grin on my face. War is such a hardhead now, and those memories to me were just funny. Then I realized; he must have killed her. My eyes widened as I looked at him.

"What?" He asked.

The Broodmother bean to awake again. Annoyance blazing through my green eyes, I ran behind the spider with the Eye Staff and blasted it through the hole in her armor. Before she could do anything, the power ripped her apart, exploding her everywhere. With my luck, I wasn't paying attention and one of the pieces of gore hit me. I flew back, and like my previous experience with the Stygian, I lied in a pool of blood and gore. Although this time I was breathing. I gasped for air and wiped what I could off of my face.

"This seems familiar." War said as he walked up to me.

"Shut it."

"Well, you seem happy."

I didn't move, but looked up at him with a dead serious face, and said one thing. "I _hate_ spiders."

He slightly chuckled. We climbed out of the room and then mounted. He told me again that we would find some water. On the way, I began thinking about my weapons. I grabbed the hidden blade that was dangling from Delirium's saddle and set it in front of me. Just as an experiment, I put my right elbow on the top of it, holding the weapon down as I used the tip of the Vorpal blade to loosen the sharp piece of metal from its brace. Once I did, I returned the Vorpal blade to its place and picked up the metal. I then shoved the piece into the chain from the grappling hook.

Smirking at what I just created, I swung it around beside Delirium. War looked at me, but didn't say anything. We approached another small pond, this being the only part of 'London' that wasn't covered in spider webs. I dismounted Delirium, and when I was about to step in, I felt War's ice cold tungsten gauntlet shove me in. I laughed as I plunged into the cold water. After a few seconds, I resurfaced.

"Again, War?"

"No, of course not." He told me sarcastically. "Last time, you fell in. This time I shoved you. Two completely separate things."

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the water, after making sure I wasn't soaked in blood anymore, we approached Silitha's lair as War ripped the webs out of our way. We walked down a small flight of stairs and into a large circular room with the wood floors rotting away. I listened to a annoyingly high, raspy voice ring in my ears.

"You honor me with your presence, Horseman. There are so many... stories about you. Especially the girl. It's interesting to hear that a mortal human ripped a Chosen's heart out from the inside." War and I just stared at Silitha as she climbed off the ceiling very slowly and stood in front of us, spitting as she spoke. "Is that why you have come? To slay the final Tower Guardian? To take my heart?" She asked, but we didn't move.

"Did Samael tell you how we came to bear his tainted blood? Why his accursed power... beats within our breast?" The spider continued. "It is not the Tower that the Chosen protect, Horseman. Our charge is to prevent Samael's return at any cost. You may kill me, and return to Samael with my heart. But in him, you will face a threat greater than all the Chosen combined."

"We did not come for your counsel, spider. Or your stories." War rejected.

She chuckled. "My children will dance... to the music of your screams!"

War drew Chaoseater and rested the tip lightly on the ground. I extended the blade on the grappling chain and began swinging it, left and right, surprised that I wasn't hurting myself. War used the hook he had on his wrist to dig into one if her arms and then retracted it, pulling himself towards her. He kicked her as soon as he was close enough, throwing her off guard.

They were both distracted, so I ran behind the massive spider. War saw me, but he didn't acknowledge me as I got behind the Chosen and began swinging my new weapon around, ripping one of her limbs off. She screamed and turned towards me. War still was ripping at her flesh, but that didn't stop her from tearing through my dress and into my broken ribs with one of her arms. The wound began gushing blood; I would have collapsed in pain at that moment, but I was determined to help War.

Even angrier now, I swung the chain blade that I had created in a circle around me as I walked towards her again. The Chosen's eyes were fixated on me, but this time when she intended to strike, instead she lost another limb.

She snarled in both pain and frustration. "Hold still, little one!" I smirked; in the corner of my eye, I saw War was running behind Silitha like I did. He took a third leg. And a fourth. She collapsed only for a moment before using her remaining claws to climb up the wall and onto the roof. "Oh, you'll never take my heart!"

We both looked at the spider until War sunk his grappling hook into her flesh and began lifting himself up towards her. She tried to shake us off, but both of our weapons were too far dug into her. I did the same, and when I got to the top, I used to Vorpal blade to slit her neck. From blood loss, she let her grip loose from the ceiling and began to fall. Due to the age of the building, Silitha fell through the floor and landed on a crimson red spike on the next level. The point went completely through her side, killing her on the spot.

War continued to rip the heart out, but I jumped down off of the corpse and got to my knees. I held my ribs in pain, only to get the blood stained on my fingers as I listened to the ringing in my ears. I did soon get myself to stand up and find some cloth. As I wrapped it around myself underneath my dress, I heard the Watcher come and talk to War quickly, but returning to his gauntlet before the Horseman reached me.

"I assume she got your ribs." He blankly said.

"I'm fine." He tried to come and look at the wound, but I was very on edge, so I wouldn't let him touch me. He shrugged, and the both of us mounted.

I zoned out for quite a while after that, only staring off into space. The Cheshire cat came and sat on Delirium's head again, making me flinch out of my daze.

"You're sleep deprived." He said.

"I don't care." I snapped back, promising myself that I would get sleep later.

This time, we had to backtrack to Samael's lair. It took longer, and when War tried to speak to me, I blankly replied and the conversation never continued. Except for the last time.

"How long has it been since the apocalypse...?" He asked himself out loud.

"A century." I snapped. "I thought you never forgot things."

"I meant since we got here, smart ass."

"Well, in that case, about a week."

He nodded. "Maybe that's why you're acting so dull."

I narrowed my eyes. "What in the hell are you implying?"

"You haven't eaten for a week, is what I meant. Calm down... wait, what did you think I was implying?"

"Yes, I haven't eaten for a week. What's your point?" I asked, avoiding his last question.

"How long can a human go without eating?"

"A week..." I mumbled.

"Then we need to find you something."

"It's fine, I'll just-" He gave me his glare, so I gave up. "Oh, fine."

We found another pond, and I bent down to take a drink. Before War could, I warned him not to push me in. After that, I looked up and saw a large bush, filled with berries almost to the point where you couldn't see the leaves. I sighed in relief as I walked over to it. I guess I never took into consideration how hungry I was. I put my hand out to it, plucked a few off, and popped them in my mouth.

War looked back over to me. "Those aren't poisonous, right?"

"I've lived here for twenty-seven years. I'm sure they're not." I said chuckling and grabbing a handful more.

"Well, I'll be damned. You seem brighter already."

I shrugged and walked away from the bush. Before I mounted, I saw an apple tree right next to Delirium. I reached up and grabbed a few, saving a few for later. I bit into one as I got I to Delirium's saddle. I began to follow War. Just as we got to Samael, I had finished the fruit and threw the core into the boiling magma below.

"I was beginning to worry you might not live up to collect on your end of the bargain." My head snapped up and Delirium disappeared at the sound of his voice. "Give it to me."

War had the Chosen's heart in his hand, but all he did was tighten his grip on Chaoseater. "You lied to us about the Chosen. They never guarded the Tower."

"What does it matter? Our deal wasn't for ancient history. I promised you the tower, and you shall have it." War threw him the heart, and he ate it. It looked as if the demon was getting struck by lightning as he absorbed the power. I stared at Samael blankly as he growled at the Horseman. "Did it amuse you, to deny me what's rightfully mine? With my powers restored, I am like unto a god! I could suck the marrow from your bones before you could draw another breath! I could... but I too have a code by which I do business. Besides, say what you will about balance, and your ridiculous law. I recognize a quest for revenge when I see one. And revenge... I respect. As for the details if my 'resignation'... well... I do not approve of the company my master keeps."

"Why did you challenge the Destroyer, Samael?" War asked.

"See your journey to its end, Horseman. You will understand soon enough. But before you leave," he stopped us as he opened a portal in the middle of the arena. "I would like to say that I am quite... impressed by the determination of this girl."

"My name is Alice. Not 'this girl'."

"It might be!" He snarled. "But... who am I to remember names?" The demon grabbed my shoulder, examining me. If he hadn't just regained all of his power, I would have shoved him away. But, after a moment, he pushed me back and turned around. War and I were about to go through the portal, but the demon threw a knife at my head. I didn't know how I knew he did, but all I did was spin around and plucked the knife out if the air by the handle.

Frustrated, I threw the knife back. Not at him, at the floor inches from where he stood. Before I turned around, I gave him a sideway glance and said, "Don't piss me off, demon." I was trying my best not to stutter.

"If I intended to, you would be dead. I was merely testing your reflexes. I'm impressed to see that you have faced all four Chosen, and you're still standing in front of me." We just stared at him. "I believe you should own more power."

"And why do you suggest that?"

"Not many humans can do what you have done so far. I didn't even believe the Horseman could accomplish the task, let alone you."

"We're all full of surprises."

Samael narrowed his eyes. "I will grant you more. I am being quite generous to do so. But, like I said, I like stories with a happy ending..."

The demon walked up to me. I looked towards War, but I couldn't red his expression. Samael again put his hand on my shoulder, but this time (like with the heart), the shock surged through me. But unfortunately this time, it was too much for me to take, and I blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors note: I'll start off with the fact that i'm terrible at authors notes XD. But let me know in the comments if you think I should continue on. I'm debating on making a third story, but i'm not really sure. Let me know if I should. Thanks. X3  
**_

"Wake up!" War yelled in my ear as he shook my shoulders. My head snapped up and I shivered, literally feeling the power course through every single vein in my body individually.

"Goodness!" Was that really necessary?"

"Well, you wouldn't wake."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. I expected for there to be extreme pain in my ribs, but here wasn't any. Confused, I looked down at my broken bones, but that wasn't what was there. It looked as if nothing had happened to it. Only a large scar remained.

"How long have I been out?!" I asked, kind of surprised.

"Actually, not long at all. Maybe a few hours."

"Then how...?"

"The power Samael had granted you. It healed your ribs and your wrist." I quickly unwrapped the cloth on my right arm and found he was right. The skin completely healed over, leaving a small nub at the top. I laughed at the progress, and covered it back up. "You can leave it unwrapped now. It's-"

"No." I cut him off.

"I knew I would find your weakness when it came to your hand."

"Very funny."

I looked up at my surroundings. We stood on a ledge, feet from the edge that dropped off into oblivion. The room was made up of metal; the only thing lighting it up was the turquoise glow in every groove of the walls. There was a small, orange tile resting in front if us, so War moved up to put his foot on it. A path of the same black and turquoise appeared in front of us, making a walkway to the next door. We walked up to it, and War tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. As he went on trying to push the door open, I rolled my eyes and set my hand on the handle.

"You know, it's a proven fact that somewhere on earth at all times, there is an idiot that's trying to push open a door-" I paused to pull on the handle. "That you're supposed to pull. Right now, you're that idiot. Ladies first," I gestured him to walk through with my wrist.

He did, but over his shoulder, he yelled, "You were just quoting Death. He says 'ladies first' constantly."

I laughed to myself and followed him through the door. A large hallway awaited us on the other side; it led to an angel chained in the middle of an arena, bright lights surrounding him.

"Azrael..." War acknowledged.

"Heaven help me..." He replied. "T-the Seventh Seal was not broken."

"What do you have to fear from me, Angel of Death?"

"If you do not intend to kill me... then perhaps you will help me...?"

"You've given me no reason to do either." War stepped forward, and I shyly followed.

"Listen to me. The gate must be shut. The Tower must be cut off from the Well! It is from the Well that the Destroyer draws his power."

"The Well of Souls?"

"Millions of souls, yes. Enslaved... twisted. A corrupt power to fuel the Destroyers armies!"

"You are steward of the Underworld. Watcher of the Well. Not a single soul flows back into this world without you knowing. Unless... Gatekeeper, you opened the way?"

"The Destroyer sent the mightiest of his Chosen against me. I fared no better than you, Horseman. Against Straga..."

"Straga?!" War snarled to himself, sounding angrier than I have ever heard him. "You will take me to him?"

"You have my word."

"Then tell us what we must do, Angel of Death."

"You must find a way to draw power to this chamber. But... tell me why this girl follows you on your quest."

The angel must have seen me standing behind War. Before he could reply, I said, "M-my name is Alice. And I would rather have you call me that instead of 'girl'."

"Very well. No matter to me."

"She is a... 'Friend' of the Horsemen."

Azrael nodded at War's sarcasm. "You both need to find a way to get electricity into this room."

We walked through another doorway that was opposing to the angel. On the other side, we were tested with a small puzzle. With the two of us conversing, it didn't take long to open the next path. We had to use the grappling hook to get across long caverns, the cross blade to open up doors, levers and switches to pull, opening doors; basically anything to test War and I, former madwoman, on an intellectual level.

We found another container, but it didn't contain a weapon. This one held (War informed me of what it was called later) a Void Walker. Scattered throughout the place were glass windows with complex designs engraved into them. War taught me to shoot the windows to make portals, and how to move through them. There were two of them, so War handed me one with a sarcastic comment to follow. The tool was similar to the grappling hook in size, but in the front, it had a glass bubble filled with liquid the same color as the portals. Sometimes orange, and sometimes blue.

Using the Voidwalker, it didn't take long to reach our power source. We walked into a square shaped room with all of the walls built with metal. There was some kind of electric device in the middle that began moving by itself out of the ground. I stood my ground and looked at it in surprise; I've never seen anything like it before besides one of Hatter's creations. War looked at me strangely, and then told me to follow. On each of the walls, there were three closed portals; each one higher than the other. War went to the right of the creature, and I went to the left. He opened a portal on the top, and I the bottom. The thing turned towards War, and I jumped through.

I found myself in the air, plummeting towards the creature. Its head was completely flat, so I landed on top of it. Fortunately, its brain was exposed, so I dug the Vorpal blade into the top, killing it instantly.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, jumping off of the corpse.

"A robot..." I gazed at him, completely lost. "It must be ahead of your time."

"You think?" I rolled my eyes.

Once I got my mind off of that, I realized there was a lightning blue steak of... something, running into a closed portal. War stared at it for a long while before I nudged him in the arm. That's when he started walking towards the closed portal and opened it. After a while of using the portals to get the electricity beams to Azrael's prison, we finally figured out to break one of the three chains that held him down with it.

"Horseman," Azrael started. "I never imagined that you would be my salvation. Hurry now, before Straga learns of your coming."

"When we found you, you said, 'The Seventh Seal was not broken'. I've heard those words before..."

"Abaddon said the same right before he died." I finally said. War nodded, and we walked away.

Azrael opened another door with his remaining power. Just like before, we had to solve a series of puzzles and kill another robot. Although this time, when we reached the creature, it took longer due to the fact that this one had a heavy box of metal on a long chain, so it tried to crush us. But after some time, it finally fell. War used Chaoseater to cut he chain free, pick it up, and slam it into its head. Souls became floating out of the dead robot, forming the lightning blue beam that we had to bring back to Azrael.

On the way back, I was lost in my thoughts when I found that we were trapped in a small room with cracked floors. I got a little nervous when demons began rising out of the ground; as they walked towards us, the floor started giving in and collapsing. We would have left, but an orange gate blocked our way. I began to push demons off the edge, and that seemed to work. Once all of them were out of our sight, the gate disappeared, and we ran up the staircase just as the last piece of flooring collapsed.

"The universe is sick, Horseman." Was the next thing I heard. I must have zoned out on the rest of the way back, because I don't remember much. "The Charred Council refuses to admit it, but those who look... we see. We had to do something..." Azrael had an ashamed look on his face. I walked over to him and set my hand on his shoulder, so I could vividly see what he had done.

_"An open attack on the __Dark__Kingdom__ would violate the treaty!" Azrael looked at another angel who looked to be Abaddon, who faced away from him. "What you're proposing is madness!"_

_"Azrael, evil darkens every corner of creation... and Heaven waits?! The Council ties our hands!"_

_"To question them is to question the Creator... do you believe you know better?"_

_Abaddon turned to face him. "Yes, old friend, I do. When the Seals are broken, Hell will send its __Chosen__ to declare battle rights. Their leaders will be gathered in one place. And there... we will sever the head of the beast. The Hellguard stands ready!"_

_"Breaking the Seals will trigger the Endwar! The __Kingdom__ of __Man__ is not strong enough. Earth will be destroyed!"_

_"There will be no war, Azrael!" Abaddon got closer to Azrael's face with every word. "We will crush the Dark Ones before it's even begun!"_

_"The pact is a sacred covenant. Even in victory, we will face the wrath of the Council."_

_"They will arrive to find the seals intact. And it will be our word... Heaven's word, against that of the prince of lies. Now do you see?"_

_Azrael sighed, closing his eyes. "The Seals will be reformed. All will believe that Hell's legions invaded and were delivered to justice by our hand. For the glory of the light-" the angel gestured a hand out to Ulthane, who was only now walking up to them. "-will you do this?"_

_"Oh, Azrael..." He sighed. "You old fool..."_

_The Old One held out a sword; power coursed through the complex designs in the multi colored bronze. Azrael grabbed it and held it over a small, knee high table with a large, thick piece of metal resting atop it. The angel whispered something to himself before ramming the tip into the Seal, breaking it with a loud thud._

"We broke all but one." Azrael told us as I took my hand off of his shoulder. War must have come up to me and set his hand on my arm, so he saw the memory too. "Abaddon ordered the final Seal not to be harmed. He protected it himself."

"Are you certain?" I could see anger begin to color War's face. The Watcher formed from his gauntlet. He walked up to the imprisoned angel, but I stayed next to War's escort.

"Without question, we dared not involve the horsemen. We never dreamed we would have to until it was too late..."

"Yet I am to pay the price for your betrayal?!"

"Treason!" The Watcher explained, coming up and eyeing the angel, leaving me behind. "War, you will root out all involved, and make them pay! Starting with this one!"

"No." War blankly stated.

"Fool! You deny the will of the Council?!"

"You heard the angel's confession. My service to the Council is ended!" I could hear the small amount of hesitation in his voice.

"War?!" I finally yelled, taking a few steps up to them. I couldn't believe what he was saying.

The Watcher enveloped him in the blue flame, making him collapse. "We made you... we own you! You're not done until you find the Destroyer and shut him down! 'Balance'... remember? Now get up. Azrael lives until he stops being useful. After that, you will do your duty."

Azrael opened the final path, and the Watcher returned to War's gauntlet, still muttering something under his breath.

"War! What the hell?" He didn't answer me. He walked ahead, completely ignoring me, and pushed the door open. "You're a Horseman. You can't stop working for the Council, it's-"

"Stop. Following me." War growled as he spun around, looking me in the eye, only inches from my face. He pushed me back until my back was against the hallway wall. "Maybe I think Samael is right about you. I think you were too cowardly to die with your kin, and you tricked me into believing that you are who you are."

I got so angry with him that I said something I regretted seconds later. "Like you weren't cowardly enough?!" Saying that, I bit my lip. I wanted to apologize, but I was furious with him. "You're such an idiot! I have proved that I am who I claim to be. You're just such an inconsiderate, stubborn jackass, so you don't want to believe me! 'Maybe' that's what I think of you. We all have our assumptions. At least mine are accurate."

I had no idea of what he was going to do. He gave me his stare, but I didn't move. He, being the impatient man he is, finally broke his gaze. He started walking, but back towards the door. He opened it, and looked back to me.

"Stay here." I stood my ground. "Go."

I didn't reply, but I walked through the door. I knew he was angry, and I was too, but I didn't want to piss him off any more. He slammed the door, and I sat against it. I put my face into my hand and let out a long sigh.

Unfortunately, only now I was realizing that my dress was torn open, exposing most of my side. I stood up, and thought about what I would do. After a few moments, I spun around and found myself in completely different clothing. The dress was bronze that plated down. It was tightly tied where my stomach is with a metal bow in the back. The brown sleeves came down and tightly wrapped around my wrists, completely covering my right arm.

I sat back down against a wooden pillar a few feet away from the door. The Cheshire cat came up and sat in front of me. He didn't say anything; he only looked at me with his stupid grin.

"What?" I questioned, getting sick of him staring at me.

He smiled slightly wider, but still didn't answer. Out of curiosity, I was about to ask more, but he evaporated before I got the chance. I stood up to make sure he didn't reappear. When I turned around to check behind me, he was sitting on top of the wooden post, making me jump back.

"Damn you!" I yelled, letting out a sigh at the same time.

"You have to prove to War that you're not a nuisance." I was both glad and annoyed that he was talking again.

"And since when am I a nuisance...? Well, firstly, how would you know?"

"I just spoke with him."

"And he said that."

"Correct. Then he told me to 'piss off', so I thought I might as well talk to you.

I held back a laugh, but it soon went away. I started walking away from the door. The cat walked next to me, but I didn't acknowledge him. I got to the exit of Azrael's prison, and I pushed the door open.

"What are you doing?" I expected for the cat to say that, but it was Azrael. I quickly spun around, letting the door shut.

"I'm leaving. Why?"

"The Horseman is the only way that you can get back to Death."

I stayed completely emotionless. "How do you know of that?"

"Lucky guess." That was the first time I had heard the angel use sarcasm. "But if I were you, I would stay until War returns."

"He doesn't want anything to do with me. I don't know how to prove to that stubborn man that I can keep from hurting myself, let alone prove that I can be resourceful."

He didn't reply. Demons began rising out of portals that the angel made. I looked at him with a questioned face as they began circling me. I extended the chain and started to swing it. I only needed my wrist to wield the weapon, so I grabbed Mercy with my other hand and shot at the demons coming up behind me. I turned back to Azrael once the last one disintegrated.

"What was that for?"

"You'll need practice if you're going to prove yourself to War." The angel slightly smirked as a demon immensely larger than the others rose out of the metal. It was pale blue with darker shades of warts scattered across its body. Both of its fists were enveloped in flames, but it didn't harm the beast whatsoever. It looked at me with its teeth showing in anger as it trapped me in a corner.

I remembered that War battled the same creature a while back. I didn't have a sword like Chaoseater, and Harvester was on Delirium's saddle, so I needed to think of a different solution. It tried to crush me under the weight of its fiery fist, but before it could, I slid underneath it and stood up. It didn't know where I went, and as it looked around frantically for me, I rammed the Vorpal blade into its spine, and used all of my force to slice it down, cutting the bone in half. It let out a viscous snarl and spun around. My ears started to ring, and my head felt like a gun was being fired at my skull.

'Damn it..." I muttered under my breath.

The pale blue demon began to morph into a large, rotting card. Of course, due to my hallucinations, it looked like the Executioner, covered in even more blood then the last time I saw it living. I knew it was a hallucination, but it reminded me of when Death accidentally cut my face. How mad he was at himself for doing so. But, it also reminded me of when we killed it, and he discarded his mask for a long while. At the thought, I smiled. But it soon disappeared once I realized that I was zoning out in the middle of a fight.

My head snapped back up, and I watched the distance between my face and the Executioner's fist lessens. I grabbed the blade on the chain and extended it. Its fist hit the chain, and the force slit the back of my knuckles. I felt the heat radiating off of my fist, and I saw the tips of my hair being singed. I shook my head, both trying to put out the flame on my hair. The creature tried to break the chain, but before it gave, I slid its fist off of it. The Executioner's fist hit its own foot, burning it to a crisp. I listened to the screams of the demon and the sizzle of burning skin as I put Mercy up to its head and pulled the trigger.

That's when my hallucinations began to wear off. I watched the bullet go into the demon's head. It kept moving after the lead penetrated its brain, so I grabbed the Vorpal blade again and slit its neck. The creature began to decompose. Only then was I realizing that War had already returned. He was redirecting the last beam. It blew the chain off of Azrael, and War walked up to me without saying a word.

"Straga waits." The archangel said as the Watcher joined us.

"Looks like you've finally outlived your usefulness, Azrael."  
It said.

Azrael enveloped himself in some kind of golden smoke, and the metal surrounding him sunk into a spiral staircase. "And how do you propose to leave the Tower once Straga is dealt with?" Azrael retorted. War stared at the angel, and I stared at War in anger. "Straga and the Tower are one. Even if you manage to defeat him, you'll be trapped without me."

The Watcher snarled. "Pray the Horseman doesn't make it out alive."

Azrael only stared as it disappeared in Wars gauntlet. The Horseman started walking, and I followed shyly. I didn't know if he wanted me to follow, or get lost. He stopped and gave me a sideways glance before completely turning around.

"Alright, I'll give you another chance." He growled, poking me in the ribs with his metal incased finger. "Don't-"

"-Piss you off." I finished for him. "Got it."

He narrowed his eyes, and when he told me to move, I didn't hesitate. He opened a door at the bottom of the stairs, but didn't hold it open, so it slammed shut in my face. It was extremely heavy; I used all if my force to get open.

On the other side, War was walking across a short bridge. I caught up to him, but walked a ways behind as the bridge collapsed behind us. We were trapped in an arena that was the outer ring of a half- circle, two closed portals on each side. In the middle was an empty hole, but it didn't stay that way for long. Large pieces of armor- each at least three times larger than War and I put together- began rising out of the ground, and it didn't take long for me to realize that it was the Chosen, Straga.

"Hmm... You are stronger than Straga remembers." The demon said to War, speaking in third person. "Bit here you face Straga with no hope of victory or escape. Straga is the mightiest of the Destroyer's chosen!" He held up his massive hammer only to slam it against the arena floor seconds later, making the entire Tower shake violently.

"And the last." War retorted, drawing Chaoseater as he did so. "Your master chose poorly."

"Straga will enjoy killing you again! Especially this vermin-" He chuckled, referring to me. "-Who has caused many deaths of the Destroyer's armies. Straga is eager to cripple you both!"

"Don't get too cocky, demon." I yelled, making sure Straga could hear. I thought it might be a little risky to say anything, but this Chosen was really agitating me. "We're both underestimated often."

War leaned over and spoke to me for the first time without snapping at me as the demon got ready to fight. "Get as far back behind me as you can. On my signal, come."

I didn't protest. I did as he said, and War got to one of his knees and cupped his hands together. He then looked at me, slightly nodding, and I came running. With the Vorpal blade in hand, I stepped into his hands and he threw me into the air. A wave of panic came over me when I went over the Chosen's head, but it soon went away when I hit something solid with a thud. I didn't know why it was there, but a platform of armor was on the Chosen's back. I looked around, and almost fell off the armor in surprise when I saw a bright orange eye staring back at me on the demons neck.

Using the Voidwalker, War distracted the Chosen. I mentally made a sarcastic comment towards War, because he didn't really give me many options up here. I finally just rammed the Vorpal blade into the eye, shooting it with Mercy a few times with Mercy as a bonus. I guess that Straga figured out where I was, because he reached back and tried to grab me. I shot his hand multiple times in self defense, but that only made him angrier. Straga threw me down, intending to kill me, but War opened a portal underneath me.

I found myself on the other side of the arena. I don't know what War did, but Straga was bent over in pain, his chin almost touching the arena floor. With Chaoseater, he ripped open the side of the Chosen's face. I could hear the low rumble of anger coming from Straga's throat as he picked up War effortlessly and tried to slam him against the ground like he tried to do to me. That's when I shot two portals; one underneath War, and the other in Straga's mouth. The Chosen was caught off guard by that, and soon began to panic when he Horseman started to rip his skull apart from the inside. Random lethal gashes appeared on Straga's face, and soon his entire head just came apart.

Before Straga sank into the abyss, War jumped from his skull soaked in blood. I would have said something, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea.

"Well?" War asked, stretching his hands out.

I took a chance by mimicking, "'this looks familiar.'"

He slightly grinned, and Azrael approached us. "As I said," The archangel began. "Straga and the Tower are one. Now, let's see how useful I can be."

The hole in which Straga collapsed in seconds before became a larger portal by Azrael's hand. Hundreds of souls floated out of it, and I was sure we would have to jump.

"Into the Well! Hurry!" Azrael ordered, and we threw ourselves in.

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"He came to me after his death." I heard Azrael say. My head snapped up, and he was conversing with War. "Abaddon. Alive. And I wanted so much to believe... I was such a fool..."

"Azrael, you saw Abaddon after he fell?"

"Saw him?" He chuckled. "I brought him here. To Eden."

I looked around at the beautiful scenery around me. The sky was golden with clouds hovering through it. There was a waterfall to my left that looked as if it stretched on forever. There were trees scattered everywhere that were packed with various kinds of fruits. I found myself sitting on a large stage that hovered in the air that was made of only solid gold. The Watcher formed, and answered for War, "What treachery is this, Azrael? Eden doesn't exist! Not anymore..."

"You ignorant sprite! I bore witness as the First Ones were cast out and the Garden fell to ruin! I could not let Heaven's first gift and greatest weapon, simply rot, or worse, fall to darkness! I hid it away."

"The Tree of Knowledge..." War said as I got to my feet. "Then... Abaddon has been to the tree?!"

"You must draw upon its gifts now. If some way exists to stop the Destroyer, the Tree will show it to you. I never dared use it myself. Perhaps if I had, things would've been...different."

"And Abaddon? What of his gift?"

"That was not for me to know. Each who comes before the tree receives a different gift. Some receive nothing. Others are driven mad by visions, or simply destroyed. No, I cannot say for certain. Come."

He directed War towards him, and when I didn't move, he motioned me to follow as well. We walked to where the path ended and stopped.

"There's no way across." War acknowledged.

"There is... for those who are worthy."

"Or those who can fly..." Sarcasm was thick in his voice.

"Horseman, you have fought against the darkness for so long that it has marked you. Creatures of the Light will sense it, as I have. In this place, you are worse than a demon. Imagine how the girl... Alice-" He corrected himself. "-would fare here. War, you must conquer the shadow. Then, you may pass."

"As for her?" War asked, pointing to me.

"You," Azrael came to me and crouched to my level. "I know what happened to your family. You have lived in the darkness, racked with guilt. You, out of every human that used to walk the earth, are one of the very few that is worthy enough. Both of you must face the shadows. Alice," He gestured out a hand, telling me to walk into the middle of the arena.

Uneasy, I began walking. Once I took a step into the middle, I regretted it afterwards. I saw an image of myself step on the same time as me. Although, this version was completely blacked out with crimson red steam coming from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her mouth didn't move, but I listened to the Queen's cruel words.

_"I rule Wonderland alone. Your interference will not be tolerated. This realm is for grown ups; raw, well ordered, ruthless, careening on the jagged edge of reality. Self pitying day-dreamers are not wanted here. They cannot survive here..."_

Unlike my eight and nineteen year old self, who would weep at those words, I didn't show any sign of emotion. No signs of hurt on the outside, nor in. I felt powerful. Like I could take on anything. I smirked, and for the first time out loud, replied.

"That is not who I am." My grip on the Vorpal blade tightened. "And I will never be that! You were the one who corrupted Wonderland. Not me. You were the one who almost destroyed the ThirdKingdom! You made me your pet! You took advantage of my family's deaths... and used it against me! I killed you once. And I'm more than willing to do it again!"

That's when I strike. I ripped her arm open, and nicked the side of her cheek and neck. And that's when my hallucinations kicked in. It was once me, but then it began to grow in height and skin color. I was positive that I had a small heart attack as the iris' turned bright orange, skin turned pale blue, muscles tripled in size, mask off. I knew I was hallucinating. I knew it. That figure, on the inside, was my shadow. And I had to kill it.

But due to my cruel mind, it appeared to be Death.

I was sure it wasn't him... but be looked so real... could he really be there? Standing in front of me?

My question was soon answered when 'Death' sliced my arm open with what appeared to be Harvester. No, it definitely wasn't him. One part of me said to kill him, but the other part, the part that really looked deep down into those orange eyes... I couldn't do it.

"It's just a dream... it's just a dream..." I chanted aloud. I finally tore my gaze from his eyes and found the courage to grab the gun and point it at him. The shadow chuckled, but raised the scythe up. Before he could do anything, I softly whispered, "I'm sorry..." and put several bullets into his chest.

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He lost blood faster than I expected. He got to his knees and put pressure onto his wounds. I watched him suffer, and then just rammed the Vorpal blade into his heart. My fingers trembled at the sight of his blood on my hands. I sunk down and sat on my knees next to him. I looked at his face, which was twisted into a look of pain and hatred. I couldn't take looking into his eyes a second longer, so I shut them. I pulled his black hair away from his eyes, and rested my head on his shoulder. It began to sink into the darkness, and I tried frantically to keep it up, but I knew it was no use. But the blood on my hands made me want to die too.

The two walked up to me, and War sat on his knees and looked at me, who still gazed at the spot where the shadow once was. War shook my shoulder; I didn't want to look at him, but I knew that if I didn't it would start an argument. I finally looked back, and he asked me  
what happened.

"I-it was..." I didn't want to tell him. "-Nothing."

His eyebrow raised, but I could tell he didn't want to argue. Azrael helped me to my feet and directed me towards the edge. He taught me how to use the shadow, and how to get across. I wasn't paying much attention, just enough to get me out of that wretched arena. It was similar as to how I worked my fantasies; at the thought, it would turn on and off. With it on, the world turned darker, and flames rose out of every crevice in the ground. The gap between the arena and the next pathway turned into a bright red bridge. I didn't know how, but I was too stressed and tired to ask. I walked across to the other side, and the bridge disappeared behind me.

As I sat down against another tree, I tucked my knees up and bit into a piece of fruit. War was fighting his shadow, and I was listening to my hallucinations torment me. Death's voice rang in my ears.

_"Can I trust you now?" His voice asked, making me tense. "Maybe that was a test to see what you would do. Maybe it won't be the same between us now..."_

That's when I lost it. I set the fruit down and buried my face in my knees. I knew I was fantasizing the whole thing, so that didn't bother me. But, I had a realization. What if it wouldn't be the same? It has been seven years for me, and I didn't have the slightest idea as to how long it was for him. It could've been days, or years... and I didn't know of he was actually mad at me. It made my stomach churn so much that I felt like I was going to vomit. I was suffering at the thought. For the second time, I wanted to die.

I lifted my head up in another thought. Azrael told War that whoever comes to the tree receives a different gift. He also said that some would be driven mad by visions, but I was already at that stage... I figured it wouldn't hurt to see as to what I would receive.

I stood up and looked toward the arena. War was still fighting, and Azrael had his eyes locked on him. I turned a corner when they were distracted, and started walking towards the Tree of Knowledge. It was up a small flight of stairs that I could barely see because of the bleach white smoke coming from it. I walked up to the tree and set my hand on the rough bark.

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_"Well, it's been long enough since we've seen you." Death's head snapped up at the sound of his brother's voice. Both Fury and Strife were walking up to him. Death was leaning against an old house that was almost completely hidden by ashes and fog._

_"You didn't come before the Council to speak about War." Fury added._

_"I know." Death blankly added._

_"Where have you been?"_

_"Training."_

_"Whoa, whoa." Strife sarcastically added, putting his hands out. "You didn't have to explain your entire schedule in such excruciating detail."_

_Death shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious, brother._

_Fury crossed her arms. "You've been quite distant since that assignment with the mad woman. What happened?"_

_The Reaper shot her sister a deadly look that told her to back off. She got his message, and didn't ask further. Strife, on the other hand, wouldn't shut up._

_"Well, why don't you answer her question?"_

_"Brother, if you don't want you arm ripped off, I suggest you stop questioning me."_

_Strife rolled his bright yellow eyes. "It's only a simple answer I want. Nothing more."_

_Death walked up to his younger brother and got his masked face a few inches from his. "Do you honestly want to do this today?"_

_He grabbed his only gun from its holster. "Gladly."_

_Fury knew that Strife was only threatening him. But when he fired five times, her eyes widened. Of course, Death was smart enough to move, so the bullets went into one of the walls on his house._

_"Strife!" _

_"What the-?" He looked at his gun, surprised. He didn't even have his finger on the trigger. Death stared at his brother, an eyebrow raised behind his mask. "Well I'll be damned. That's not right."_

_Death let out a small chuckle. "You couldn't kill me if you tried, brother."_

_Strife narrowed his eyes, mumbled something unintelligible, and followed Fury away from Death's home. "Good to see you again, brother." Fury called back, and the two disappeared into the fog._

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I snapped back into reality and stepped away from the tree. I remembered looking at the side of his home, and I realized something.

The five bullets that Strife fired were in the exact same pattern that I shot Death's shadow in.

I started to back up, my hand over my mouth. That must have been Death's present time, and when Strife fired those shots, that's what I did.

"Oh damn. Damn, damn, damn..." I whispered to myself. I stopped backing up when I accidentally ran into War. I gasped and spun around.

"What are you doing?" War asked.

"Oh. Uh, I was curious as to what the Tree was."

He nodded. "Did you receive anything?"

"Nope." I lied casually. He stepped through the smoke, and once he was fully enveloped in the smoke, I let out a long sigh and walked away from the tree. Once I was far enough to avoid the smoke, I sat down on the last stair.

"Oh, the tree and its gifts. Amazing isn't it?" The Cheshire cat sat right in front of me.

I stared at him blankly. "What was that supposed to prove?"

"That your hallucinations almost killed him. The Tree showed you the present."

I let out a groan in annoyance and buried my face into my knees. "Crap."

"That shadow was you. It wasn't Death. But, the same shots almost killed the Reaper himself. Your madness just could be returning. If you would have stayed with him, this wouldn't have happened, now would it?"

"Yes, I know." I snapped. "I didn't listen to your stupid advice, and now I'm suffering. Will you stop making me feel like a raging lunatic?"

"And will you pay attention to your surroundings?" That was the last thing he said before evaporating.

When I looked up, War was standing in front of me with an eyebrow raised. I stood up and followed him towards Azrael. The Watcher was standing next to him; I didn't know why and honestly didn't care. I was curious as to what he had in his hand. It looked like the handle of the same sword that I saw in Azrael's memory.

"Well?" The Watcher asked War as we walked up to them.

"Abaddon is the Destroyer."

"The archangel?!"

"He was betrayed. He is only a pawn in some bigger game."

"You must bring him peace." Azrael said, deep in thought.

"Peace?!" The Watcher exclaimed again. "Abaddon is the Destroyer! I'm pretty sure peace is off the table."

The angel sighed, then turned his attention to War. "Did you find any clues among the visions? A way to stop him?"

"There was a sword. One which broke the Seals."

"The Armageddon blade. But, after the Seals were broken, Abaddon ordered the blade destroyed on the very anvil of its creation. Horseman... I fear the blade is lost to us now."

"It can be made again."

"What else did you see?" The Watcher persistently asked.

"Abaddon guards the Seventh Seal. He plots with others to storm the White Gates. Uriel will lead the Hellguard against him... and fail."

"What else did you see?" It asked again.

"I saw nothing else."

"I will open a gate to return us." Azrael said as he opened a Serpent Hole. "Once it is closed, the Garden and its secrets will be lost forever. When you are ready, I will begin."

Azrael walked into it, then War, and after much hesitation, I finally followed. This time, everything was crystal clear. The sky was a dull orange and we were standing on a pitch black platform in the middle of nowhere. As War began walking, a path formed in front of him, so I followed close behind.

We soon returned to Earth; from where I stood, I could see the arena in which I lost my hand from where we stood.

"Seek Ulthane." Azrael suggested. "He will help you. He must help you... Abaddon will have scattered the swords remains. Hidden them where none in the light could find them."

"The Shadow Realm." War acknowledged.

"Yes. You both can use the power you have earned to enter the Realm. Assemble the broken blade. Then, return it to the Black Hammer. When this is done, return to me. Perhaps I can serve you one last time before... the end."

We started walking away from the the angel, but War stopped and turned around. "Azrael, at any time you could have left us to our fate, lost among the ashes of Eden... why do you help us now? When this is over, the Council will see that justice is done. I will kill Abaddon. And all who schemed with him."

"We all must answer for our sins, Horseman. When the hour of my judgment comes, I will embrace it. What ever the light decides... Go. Waste no more time on me. And tell Ulthane... he is the last hope of an old fool."


	9. Chapter 9

The end.

I was realizing only now that Azrael said the end was near. Which meant that there was a larger chance of me seeing Death again... no, I'm getting ahead of myself. War was being framed by an angel named Abaddon. Or, rather, a former angel. It didn't matter. I know that when the Destroyer falls, War will be proven innocent. I was sure of it.

"Lefty," War caught my attention. I looked up to him. "You were paying attention to Azrael, correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. You understand what's going on?" I nodded, so he crossed his arms with a smug look. "Why don't you try to gather the pieces? Not all of them, of course. But, when I returned to Azrael a while back, you were fighting quite efficiently. I will say, I'm impressed-" My eyes widened at the fact that he saw me fighting, and that he was impressed. "-with your skills. You certainly can protect yourself."

I slightly smiled and looked to the ground, kicking a small rock off into the ashes. "Says the man who thinks I'm a coward."

"I never said that."

"Samael said that. You said that you agree with him, so technically, you said that."

'Well... never mind that. Can you do it or not?"

"Yes." I repeated. I was confident that I could. Unfortunately, there was a cliff separating us from the ashes. War jumped down, but Ruin caught him before he made contact with the ashes. I rose and eyebrow, and yelled, "Doesn't that hurt?!"

"Extremely!" He replied. "Now get going!"

I let out a small laugh, but then began to think of ways to get down. With the fact that I only had one hand escaping my mind, I started to climb. I lost my footing when I realized I didn't have a hand to grab onto the sharp rocks. I started falling, but before I disappeared into the ash, Delirium caught me. I sat upright, and the horse began running to no specific place.

It was nice to be alone for that long. It gave me time to think about things that I didn't want flooding my mind when I was around War. Things like my vision of Death. It frustrated me, but I managed to keep it all in my head instead of yelling it out loud.

I still felt terrible. And I still wanted to just die, right along with that shadow. Death didn't have his mask on, and it frightened me to see him trying to kill me. His face twisted into that look of hatred. I had never seen him like that. He was always happy when he had that mask off, he was almost always smiling. This made me feel worse. Even after all that's happened to him, he was still happy.

I felt as if I was over thinking it all. I tried to leave it at that, but I couldn't. I did fall asleep for hours at a time while traveling, but listening to the voices in my head, torturing me with the fact, made me feel restless.

"Shut up!" I finally let one of my thoughts into the world, just waking up. I dismounted Delirium, and saw that we walked into the place that I first woke up in after breaking my ribs. I got to my knees and splashed my face with the cool water, drinking some as I did so. I looked around at the world, and still after all this time, didn't mourn over the loss. No one cared about me, and vise versa, so I didn't have anything to miss. Not on this world, anyway.

I stood up after watching the grime off of my face. I walked around the grass, flattening it with every step. After traveling a long while, I stopped at the same apple tree before. I grabbed one, and ran my fingers over the smooth surface. The horse came over and looked at me with pleading eyes. I chuckled while sitting down; I cut the apple into pieces with the Vorpal blade, and gave them to him one by one while stroking him with my wrist. That seemed to make him happy, so he left me alone. I smiled in amusement, but then bit into one of them myself.

From a ways away on top of one of the old buildings, there was something glowing. I strained my eyes trying to figure out what it was, but that only turned my vision to the Shadow Realm. That frustrated me, but at a second glance, it was a lot clearer. It was a piece of metal, hovering over a scarlet red anvil. I was confused for a moment before I recognized the complex designs. It was part of the Armageddon blade.

"Thank goodness..." I muttered to myself. I had no idea where any of them were.

After spotting it, just reaching it took a while. I had to swim over to the tilted building- which felt really strange against my armor- and lift myself through the broken window. Part of the glass sliced my palm, but I just used my teeth to pull my sleeve over it. I got to my feet and tried to run up a flight of stairs. Due to age, almost every other stair collapsed under my weight, so I had to move slowly.

I thought I was at the top when I realized there was one more level. I sighed and did my best to climb up to the roof. I was never very good at climbing, but I managed to get to the top with a few more small scrapes from the broken windows. I hoisted myself up, and lied on my back for a moment, just to shut my eyes. I wouldn't let myself fall asleep, but I made a mental note saying that I would soon. I forced myself up, and walked over to the anvil. At the moment, it was only made of black lines. It was strange to see, but then at the thought it materialized right in front of me.

The Armageddon blade shard, up close, was beautiful with the designs. I ran my fingers through the grooves, absolutely fascinated, but then firmly grabbed it.

And that's when the building shifted.

I suppose that taking the piece must have done something to the structure where it started to tilt to the right. I knew that it would completely collapse, so I put the blade shard into my metal dress pocket and ran over to what used to be the east wall. The building was falling fast towards the water, and before it made contact, I dove in from what seemed to be about thirty feet.

Once I hit the water, I started to swim toward shore immediately. Because if I didn't, the building would have crushed me. I got to shore and lied on the sand for a moment, coughing up the water that I accidentally inhaled. After composing myself, I stood up. Delirium was waiting for me on the path, so I walked over to him and mounted.

As the horse trotted along, I looked at the Armageddon blade piece, tossing it around in my hand. It fascinated me as to how abstract it was. And not many things fascinated me these days. I put it underneath Delirium's saddle for safe keeping and looked to my left. There was the long hallway leading to what used to be Samael's lair. I knew at least where I was now. I tried to get Delirium to walk, still gazing at the arena, but all he did was snarl. I tried to look at the path ahead, but a large demon blocked my way. Of course it had to be Samael.

I jumped, and Delirium stepped back a few paces. "Uh, hello..."

"I know you have it." He growled, picking me up by my metal collar- which was really painful- and set me down on the ground. Delirium snorted again in what seemed to be anger, but then sank into the stone.

"Have what now?" I casually asked.

"Don't... _anger_ me, human. I want the Armageddon blade."

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about." I wasn't good at lying at people that I trusted. A person that I didn't, however, is a completely different story. "War let me loose. He didn't want me to follow him anymore. Now, I'm just trying to survive."

"_Listen_." He grabbed my collar, lifting me off the ground and partially cutting off my air supply. "I want the shard. If War doesn't have the last piece, then he can't put the blade back together. If he can't do that, then the Destroyer will still reign."

"Logic." I croaked in agreement. But on the inside, I really wanted to rip his throat out. Then I realized: why don't I trick the demon?

"War left you among the ashes of this place. You have no where to go. You must have _some_ kind of anger towards him."

I narrowed my eyes. "What are you implying...?"

"If you're willing..." he trailed off to look around him, making sure no one was listening and set me back on the ground, "We can recover at least one of these pieces, then... _then_, the Horseman will be stuck at a dead end."

"You're a genius." I let out a laugh. He thought it was of acknowledgement, but it was really of sarcasm.

He grabbed both of my arms. "If we're in agreement..."

"I don't see why not." I agreed. "Wait... wait, there's one!"

"What?" Samael looked over to where I was pointing. "Where?"

"There. It's right over there, on that rock." I ran over to the edge and he followed me.

"I still don't see. Be more specific."

"It's probably because you're not looking down far enough. Its right there... wait, maybe this will help." I grabbed Mercy from my pocket as he strained his eyes. Before he could question me further, I sunk several shots into his brain, and dug the Vorpal blade into his heart.

I pushed his limp body off the cliff and grabbed the blade from his back, yelling, "You might be insanely powerful, but you need to learn common sense, dumbass!"

I walked to the middle of the street and collapsed in laughter. I really thought he would have been more intelligent. But, I knew that with all the power he had, he would be resurrected sooner or later just like Abaddon. But I would cross that bridge when I came to it. After sitting for a while, I stood up and walked. I didn't want anyone thinking that I had the Armageddon blade shard again, so I traveled on foot. Samael actually frightened me for a moment because I thought that he might know that I was lying... but it wasn't enough to mask my grin.

I kicked a rock along my path as I walked, ashes rising up behind be. It started to get dark- this being one of the first times I remember the sun going down since getting here- when I came into an old cemetery. I always had my hand on the Vorpal blade just in case as I traveled. With the sun going down, and the air freezing, I figured now would be a good time to rest. And I guess nature agreed with me too, because it began to downpour.

"Damn it," I whispered. I looked around for shelter, and spotted the old gazebo that War and I came across long ago. I ran over to it, and leaned on one of the posts, catching my breath. There wasn't much space there, but it was enough to keep me out of the rain. There was a small fire pit in the middle, and I didn't hesitate to start one. There was an old, rotting wood pile at the edge of the gazebo, and that made me feel all the luckier.

Arranging the pieces in the center, I started thinking as to how I would get a flame going. I remember my father teaching Lizzi and me how to all those years ago with a couple rocks, but I have never put it to use. I smiled at the memory, but it started to upset me, so I made myself think about something else. I figured it would be worth a shot, because the air was freezing. I ran out into the frigid rain as fast as I could, crouching next to a tree once I was close enough. I dug through the dirt and rubble as quickly as possible with only one hand, and soon found two fist size rocks. I grabbed them both with my hand, and started back toward the shelter.

Shivering, I set one of the rocks underneath the wood after drying them off. After hitting the rocks together for a long time, I finally got a spark that soon turned into a flame when I constantly blew on it. I let put a sigh of relief and smiled when the flames started to build.

"Thank you, father," I said with a slight chuckle, glancing at the gazebo ceiling.

That's when I let myself relax. I sat down against one of the stone pillars that held up the roof. With my knees tucked up against my chest, I took off the Voidwalker and the grappling chain, setting them next to me. It felt different without them shackling my wrists, but it made me feel comfortable. I cupped my hand underneath the rain, catching some of the water so I could drink it. With a smile on my face, I set my cheek on my knee, finally allowing myself to close my eyes with the intention to sleep.

"Surprise." The Cheshire cat quickly said, snapping me out of my state of comfort.

"Goodness! What do you want this time?" I asked, more than annoyed.

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to say hello."

"You never just want to say hello. What is it? I want to get some rest."

"You realize that you won't be able to keep Mercy for much longer, right?"

"Get to the point." I snapped.

"I'm merely suggesting that you try to find a different weapon."

"I think I have plenty."

"Melee," He pointed out.

"Well... I guess you're right."

"I always am."

"Don't push it." He grinned wider at my agreement. "Even if I wanted to, where would I? As you said, I'm a human among a post-apocalyptic world of demons, a century after Armageddon. Where in the hell would I find a weapon of good use now?"

He tilted his head towards the fence that separated the cemetery from something that was completely blacked out. "An old city. There are many different places that are completely closed off that you can use to your aid."

"And that includes...?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm a mere cat."

"An annoying, chatty one at that..." The rain stopped, but I could tell that there was more to come.

"Go quickly. You just might be able to situate yourself."

Slightly agitated from sleep deprivation, I finally stood up, lit a piece of wood at the end to serve as a torch, and walked towards the fence. I threw myself over it, landing flat on my back on the other side. I let out a quiet groan of pain, but stood up soon after. The old town would be completely black if it wasn't for the fire. Opposing from the fence was an old building, and engraved on the sign was the word 'Blacksmith'. Still on edge, I shot the hinges off of the door and walked through.

Dust was coated along the small amount of weapons that were there. The larger ones were probably taken when the people saw the first demons hit. My faith in what the cat said started to fade when on the shelves was only stocked with bows and arrows.

"See? You can use those to your advantage." Cat stood on the empty ledge behind me.

I held my right wrist out to him. "I only have one hand. It's not possible to use that to my advantage."

He dropped off the ledge, walked over to a broken blade, and put his paw on it. "I think you can figure something out."

I looked at him in confusion for a few minutes, but then got his idea. I set my torch down to pick up the broken piece of metal. I put that in a sheath packed with arrows and put it across my back along with a bow. I picked up the torch and walked out of the door. Climbing over the fence, the torch landed in a puddle after falling on the other side and died down. I cursed under my breath, but then ran underneath the gazebo once more.

I put a few more pieces of dry wood on top of the dying flames, and then took the bow and arrows off my back. After pulling the old blade out, I immediately put the top half into the fire. I almost fell asleep trying to heat up the metal, but after almost burning myself multiple times, I forced myself to stay awake. Just for a while longer. After the blade was bright orange, I took it out and bent it effortlessly into a U by pushing it onto the ground next to me. I didn't realize it before, but the rain started again. I set my head back against the pillar and put the scorching metal out into it, listening to the sizzle as it started to cool. The sound alone made me drift off into sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night. I looked up at the fire, and it was blazing. I must have gotten only a few hours of sleep. Great. But at least I felt more rested than before. I sat up and looked at the blade. It was sitting in a puddle, so it was completely cooled.

I lifted it up to get the dirt off of it, then put the opposing side into the fire. The Cheshire cat appeared to look at me with his evil grin. I gave him a tired smile and rubbed his head with the bottom of my right wrist. I wanted to fall asleep again, and I was positive that I would, but I wanted to finish what I started. He gave me a perfect idea. Once it was hot enough, I pushed it against the bottom of the grappling chain's holder. I set the rock I used to make the fire with on top, making sure it would stay, then cool. Once I did that, I allowed myself to sleep for the rest of the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It must have been longer than I intended that I slept, because when I awoke, the sun was directly in my face. I put my hand up in front of my eyes to block the light that was blinding me and sat up. After taking the rock off of the hook that I made, I slipped it onto my wrist along with the Voidwalker and got to my feet. I picked up the bow and put the sheathe of arrows on my back. Honestly, I really didn't think that it would work, but it was worth a shot.

"Good morning," The Cheshire cat stood behind me.

"Hi." I replied, still foggy from being asleep.

"You're an early riser-" He lifted his paw up a pretended to look at a watch, which made me laugh. "-Noon?"

"Very funny, cat. I'm leaving."

"Why don't you practice?" He suggested before I could walk away.

"On what, exactly?"

He evaporated before giving an answer. I looked up at the cemetery and sighed before beginning to walk. In the corner of my eye, I saw a little brown rabbit run around a corner. Out of sheer curiosity- and it being a habit- I followed it. After finding it, it ran into a huge hole in the wall, probably from a meteor during the Apocalypse. I took a step into it, and began falling, mentally hitting myself in the forehead as I did so. I squeezed my eyes shut before slamming against the ground about forty feet from the hole at the top.

"Seriously, brain?" This time I did slam my palm into my forehead. I got to my knees and then stood.

"You and rabbit holes, I swear..." The Cheshire cat again, returning to annoy me.

"Shut up." I snapped. From a long ways away, I saw the brown rabbit that I had followed, sitting and facing the cat and I. I smirked, thinking that it might be good for target practice. Still doubting the fact that it would actually work, I put the bow string into the hook that I made, reached back to grab an arrow, put it on the string, then grabbed the bow and aimed.

And I was absolutely amazed by the accuracy. The arrow dug into the rabbit's neck, exactly where I was aiming. It collapsed, so I walked over to it, pulling the arrow out and wiping the blood on my sleeve before putting it back.

The cat widened his eyes. "Did you seriously just kill a rabbit?"

"Why not? I've grown a small hatred towards furry creatures. They always lead me into bad situations. Besides, it's not white, so I don't have to feel bad."

He gave me an annoyed "He's already dead" before disappearing. I stepped over the dead rabbit and twisted through the dark tunnel. I soon came across the first demon that I've seen in days. It was about double War's height and skinny like Death. Its skin was a sickly pale green, and it held a hammer in its hand that was about my size. I backed up as I loaded my bow, and shot an arrow into its left eye.

The demon hardly acknowledged the wound. I repeated what I did, shooting one into its right eye, blinding it. I guess that its level of intelligence was much lower then Samael's, because it didn't know that It couldn't see.

"You are foolish to come here." It growled, still walking around in the intention of finding me. I rolled my eyes and put the bow on my back, and before it could react to the noise I made, I grabbed the Vorpal blade and threw it into the demons neck. I made sure it was dead before grabbing the blade and ripping the two arrows from its eyes.

From a hole in the wall, I could see another anvil with a piece of the blade on top. Almost effortlessly, I extended the chain, making it sink into what used to be the wall of the building next to it. I retracted it, bringing myself to the building rooftop. I walked over to the shard, grabbing it as Delirium appeared on the road below me. I slowly dried to descend down the side of the two story building. Just like last time, my hand slipped, and the horse ended up catching me. I smiled, rubbing his head, and put the two pieces in the same place. Delirium snorted in discomfort, and I told myself that I would soon find a storage container for the pieces.

After running for a while, we passed an old store- I wasn't quite sure as to what it sold in its prime- that was almost completely intact. I dismounted so I could step through the already opened window. On the inside were fabrics of all kinds, strung on the walls and folded up on shelves. I saw duffle bag in the corner of my eye, and I didn't hesitate to snatch it off the countertop. I also grabbed some white gauze; what I already had on was beginning to decompose. I walked out of the building with the bag over my shoulder.

We continued on as I set the two pieces into the bag, hanging it securely on Delirium's saddle. I took off the grappling chain, letting my hair hang over one of my eyes as I took off the old gauze- frowning in disgust at my wrist- and putting on the new. After slipping on the chain again, I looked up at the sun that was now setting, a small grin on my face. I put both of my legs on one side of the saddle and rested my head on Delirium's neck, watching the sun go down. After a couple of minutes, I was already asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are those pieces of the Armageddon blade?" My eyes snapped open from listening to the words.

"Samael will be pleased." I heard another voice say. Two far more intelligent demons were standing behind me, most likely with my duffle bag in their hands. I slowly moved my hand to the top of Delirium's saddle. Before the demons could react, I swung both of my legs over the horse's head and hitting them, knocking the two to the ground. I jumped from the saddle and loaded my bow, pointing it at them.

"Hand me the bag. Now." I snapped.

"Which one of us will you shoot first, human?" One of them said, making the other laugh.

I shifted the bow towards the demon that wasn't holding the pieces, and put an arrow into his brain. After reloading, I pointed it at the only remaining one, "There. Now you happy? Hand it over."

"Not on your life." It growled, grabbing its weapon and standing up, sorrow lacing its words over its dead partner.

"Oh, so death is your path? Cool with me. I chose the same." After saying that, I put the arrow into its neck. The demon got to its knees, gasping for air, its fingers fixated over the arrow. I put my foot on its chest and violently jerked it out, making blood splatter everywhere, "But my Death is better than yours."

I returned both of the arrows to the sheathe after drying them off. I had to pry the demons fingers off of the bag, because the grip was so tight. Once it was free, I checked to make sure both if the pieces were still there. They were, so I put the bag back to where it was and remounted.

I started to question why Samael wanted the blade. I thought he was against the Destroyer. Abaddon must have convinced him to join him. This made me all the angrier, because War and I wasted so much time getting his power back. Getting him to get us to the Tower. My hand. I lost my hand because of Samael. And it was all for nothing.

Seconds away from starting a screaming match with myself, I stopped to see the outlines of another anvil. I turned my vision towards the Shadow Realm to confirm it was there. Out in the open. Like nothing was guarding it. I shrugged my shoulders while getting out of Delirium's saddle; only a few yards from it, an angel came and blocked my way. Uriel. What did she want from me? I didn't do anything besides stab her. But I was partners with War, so she is probably just as furious with me as she is with him.

"This isn't an ambush, _human_."

"I can see that." I retorted.

"You know where the Horseman is. You being his ally." I didn't move, nor speak. Uriel pointed her blade at me, "Do I need to force the information out of you?"

"For goodness sake!" I yelled. "Why is everybody targeting me?! I'm only a human among angels, demons, and Nephillim! And so far, I've been the only one to male sense out of anything. I don't know where the hell War is. Why don't you go ask someone with a lower intelligence level, like yourself?"

"Hmm. looks as if the human is being stubborn. I'll take your life, and then go find War."

"He's going to tell you the same thing."

"And what's that?"

"Abaddon has betrayed you."

"I'd rather be dying, right here, by your hand, than believe that."

A smirk crept up to my lips. "I'll try to accommodate you."

From my next experience, I learned that I was much better at accommodation when I was eight compared to now. I did my best to shoot an arrow at her head, but she was faster. She was close to dodging it; it cut the side of her neck, but she barely noticed it. Before I had the time to reload, she hit me in the side of the head before I could, knocking me across the street and into a rock. I coughed up blood and tried not to choke on it when it started coming out my nose too. Gasping for air, Uriel picked me up by the throat and held me against a pillar.

_"Where is he?!"_ She growled, her grip tightening with every word. Although I couldn't hardly breathe, and I was scared out if my mind, my facial expressions didn't show anything besides hate. "This would be so much easier if you would just speak up. Now War is going to lose his partner. Or, rather, luggage... He's just dragging you around this_ wretched_ world in the intention of bringing you back to your love. Pathetic," Her words were meant to bring me down, but I was already there. "Death. He let himself go, loving this poor excuse of a creature. Hmm. I liked him better when he was bitter and heartbroken."

Through the blood and air loss, I retorted, "It's a shame he had to give both traits to you."

She cracked my head back against the pillar again. And that's when I accepted that I would probably die. After all of this time, Uriel would be the one who would kill me. My vision only went out for a second before Uriel released her grip. I hit hard against the ground for what seemed like the hundredth time, and started to breathe better. In frustration, I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the blood that was trying to exit my body. When that made it worse, I just got on my knees with my head down, letting it spill onto the dust coated rocks.

After the flow slowed, I saw War, slamming Uriel's head against a concrete wall, leaving a crater. My eyes widened at the sight, because a blow like that should have killed her. But of course, she just stood back up. The ringing in my ears was so piercingly loud that I couldn't make out what they were talking about, but he was arguing with the Watcher about something, and then she took off moments later. My body collapsed making me lie on my stomach, chin resting against the ground. After the angel took flight, War ran towards me. I only knew this because he flipped me over on my back, making me cough up the last of the blood that poured out of my mouth.

"Hey, Lefty." He mouthed. He probably said it aloud, but I sure as hell couldn't hear. And the next thing he did actually surprised me more than the pain. He _smiled_. Not in a sarcastic manner whatsoever. He genuinely smiled. I gave him a tired, pain-filled grin in return, but frankly I felt bad for him. War was such a nice person, but he just kept it hidden due to guilt. Like Death.

Then I realized that I was dying. I cracked my back, being in the uncomfortable position that I was. He spoke to me, mouthing things like "Don't move" or, "Try to stay conscious". I just watched him as he did his best to stop the bleeding on my head somehow. I guess that it cracked open as well. I could hardly hear myself think.

"If I die..." I whispered, just loud enough to hear.

"You won't." His voice echoed around in my head. I was relieved to hear someone's voice.

But I was still determined to say one thing. "I-if I _die_," I repeated. "Just tell him I love him... alright...?"

His smile returned, knowing that I was talking about his brother. "I promise that you'll see him again, Alice." I'll be damned. He actually called me by my real name.

Before I could reply, everything turned to darkness.

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**A/N: Yay. Two more chapters! This was going to be the last (Besides the epilogue) But it just got too long. Hope you people like it, leave a comment. X3 **


	10. Chapter 10

I woke up with an excruciatingly painful headache. The ringing in my ears wasn't gone, and my back felt awful. I sat up as slowly as I could, trying not to get dizzy. Looking around, I saw that I was in the same spot where I passed out. War sat a long ways away against a rock, his hood sagging over his eyes as he slept. I winced as I forced myself to sit against the wall of an old building, trying to be quiet as possible.

War's eyes snapped open, and he stood up. Walking over to me, he grabbed my head and examined the bandage- I was now noticing- that were wrapped my head.

"You really won't give up, will you?" He asked. "Just refuse to die."

"...I honesty didn't think I would wake up." My words were airy as I took deep breaths.

He chuckled, unwrapping the gauze and making me tense. "Of course you would. Every time so far you have." I smiled, but I was furious with myself. I shook my head slowly, hoping he wouldn't notice, but he was bandaging it. So of course he noticed. "What?"

He grabbed the top of my head again, forcing me to stay still. With a fake laugh, I said, "Sometimes, I wish I would have just died in that fire... S-save all of you the trouble."

He didn't stop to acknowledge my words besides replying with, "There's always a reason while you're still living, kid. There's always a reason."

My vision started to blur when he finished unraveling the bandage. Still breathing heavily through my mouth, I decided to stop talking about that. "I have two of the pieces."

"Four." He replied blankly. I looked behind him and saw the last piece, still on the anvil. Shaking, I pointed towards it, making him look. "Well I'll be damned."

After bandaging my head, he ran over to the piece. Delirium walked up to me during that time, so I unzipped the bag and pulled out the pieces just as War returned. I handed them to him, and he sat next to me. On the ground, he arranged the pieces so they were in the shape of the blade.

"Guess we have all the pieces." I acknowledged. "Now we go to Ulthane, I assume?"

"Not until your head is healed."

"What?!" I moved to quickly while saying that, so I had to squeeze my eyes shut and held myself up by pressing my hand hard against the ground.

"See?"

I looked at him in frustration. "Why don't you go and mend the blade, and I'll stay here and heal?"

"...no. We'll wait."

"Come on, War-" He cut me off with his stare. "...oh, damn you."

He was satisfied that he won the argument, and put all of the pieces in a pile. I saw that my bow and arrows were in front of me, and War saw that I was looking at them.

"Why do you have those?" He finally asked.

"The damn cat thought it would be a good idea to use them."

"...You have one hand."

I held up the hook that I made for the bow string. He still looked confused, so I tried to stand. When he saw me struggle, he helped me. Once I was up, the only thing that caused me pain was my skull. I picked up my bow, loaded it, and shot one of the birds nearby in the neck while it was flying.

"...I should learn not to underestimate you." I let myself laugh, but it made me dizzy, so I gently rested my back against the wall. "Sit down."

He helped me down and I let myself relax. After minutes of silence, I asked, "What happened to my head?"

"It looks to be a small fracture in your skull."

"...how are we supposed to wait for it to heal?"

"What I meant by that was wait until you can move without feeling dizzy."

"Oh... well still, that's going to take a few days."

He chuckled. "Anxious to see Death, huh?"

"...who said I was going to see him anytime soon?"

He tensed, and that's when I realized that he was hiding something. I didn't know what it was, but I could tell. I wanted to ask, but before I did, he tapped his huge gauntlet. I didn't comprehend for a second, but then I remembered that the Watcher was in there. I nodded, understanding what he meant. From then on I censored what I said.

But was I really going to see him again? I couldn't not smile, and my heart sped up. War noticed, and teasingly whispered, "Calm down." While setting his hand on my shoulder. I let myself relax after laughing. The sun started to go down, so he stood up. "Get some rest. Let your head heal without me making you laugh."

I chuckled, and moved so I sat in the corner between two boulders. I closed my eyes and he began to walk away. "By the way..." I caught his attention once last time.

"Hmm?"

"Your hair did make you look old."

xxxxxx

When I awoke, the sun was just rising, and I felt well rested. I looked around, and I didn't see War anywhere. Still just waking up, I was realizing that my throat was so dry that it was painful. I was about to stand up when War rounded a corner with something in his hands. I couldn't tell what it was a century ago, but it was made of metal and held water in the center. After a few minutes of arguing, he finally got me to drink it.

For the next day or two, War and I waited around for my head to heal. The ring in my ears hardly lessened at all, but the pain was dwindling. Just sitting around and talking about everything that's happened since we separated to gather the pieces- which mostly took my mind off of the pain- made my head feel much better. I told him about Samael, and where the blade shards were, and a lot of other things. It didn't take very long until I was able to walk around again. At first, War helped me stay on my feet, but I kept myself up.

"Better?" He teased.

I nodded, my arms out beside me in case I lost my balance, "Now let's go."

"Wait, wait." He grabbed my shoulder.

"What this time?"

"Just one last thing."

"Why? I feel just fine-"

He cut me off by picking me up by my shoulders and spinning me around, "Hey! Put me down, you idiot!" I yelled, laughing in the process.

"I'm just making sure," He replied, and set me down. It wasn't that bad, my vision blurred for a second, but returned back to normal. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" I said, still chuckling.

"You're just always so... happy."

"What's your point?"

He rolled his eyes, and we mounted after the horses appeared from the ground. On the way to Ulthane's home, War and I argued almost the entire way. And it took hours to reach it. Really I didn't pay attention to the arguments, because the only thing that was on my mind was Death. Every time I even thought his name, my heart started racing, and I would have to say something funny to cover up my laugh.

Still thinking, we walked into a tunnel, listening to Ulthane work. War, with all of the pieces in his hand, walked up to him and arranged them on his bench. I stayed back as they discussed it, and let my mind wander. Ulthane started to mend the blade back together, and I stood behind them, mesmerized the sparks that were flying off of it. I didn't really know in particular what I was thinking about, and didn't care either. I felt content, and with a partially cracked skull, it was a good feeling. I didn't even notice when it was finished because my eyes were locked on the spot where the sparks had once been.

War walked up to me, finally forcing me to look at him. Once I was paying attention again, we walked out. Looking at the sword he held in his hand, I could barely hear him speak.

"Hello?" He sounded partially annoyed.

"What? Oh, hi."

"We'll go back to Azrael."

I blankly replied with "okay" and we remounted. War didn't talk much on the way; he seemed to be thinking just as much as I was. About what? No slight idea. He just kept his eyes on the path ahead. When we were on the edge of the ashes, only an empty battlefield away from the end, the Watcher followed us.

"This is for all the cookies, Horseman. When you proceed, there's no return..." It said with a smug look. I was really hoping something would happen to the Watcher, because it was really getting on my nerves. We used our grappling chains to get ourselves to the top of the cliff as soon as the Watcher returned, and walked up to Azrael, who was intensely staring at something in the sky. I had no idea what it was, maybe an arena or something. Either way, I felt like I was going to figure out soon.

"It's Abaddon." The angel said his back to us. "Uriel has lead the Hellguard against him. It is as you foretold... the Hellguard will fall."

"Angel of Death..." Azrael turned around. "-serve me one last time." The Horseman stated, pulling the blade off of his back.

Azrael nodded, and opened a portal. Before I could walk in, War stopped me. "You wait here."

I gave him a confused look. "Pardon...?"

"You wait here with Azrael. It's too dangerous up there."

"I'll be fine, War. I'm going with you."

He grabbed me by the collar and set me back farther away from the portal. "I'm not going to argue with you. I'm trying to protect you."

I gave him an angry glare as he stepped into the portal. I sighed when it closed; when Azrael was sure he was up there, he reopened it.

"Go." He demanded, gesturing his hand out. I was surprised for a moment, but then got closer.

"Thank you." I replied with soft eyes. He nodded, smiling back at me, and I stepped in.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Heaven hunts you... Hell hates you. All of creation cared not whether you live or die." Was the next thing I heard from a dark raspy voice- too annoying and cruel to be Death's. I was right when I thought it might be an arena. So far, it was the biggest one I had ever seen. I crouched behind an angel' dead body, and the armor was so bulky, it completely hid me. Honestly, I think I could stand right in plain sight and not be seen because they weren't paying attention to me.

War's back was towards me as the demon in front of him spoke. It was a dragon- type creature with black skin, and from every groove in its body oozed bright red blood and fire. The Destroyer's teeth were razor sharp, and it spat as it spoke.

"Join me, War. Like a great sword, I will raise you up... and our enemies will shatter against us. The spoils of a thousand victories will be yours. Or, serve a corrupt Council. And a Creator who abandons his most faithful."

_Oh damn._ I thought. _He's trying to convince War to... oh, you stubborn dumbass, don't you do it!_

"I offer you this choice, Horseman. Would you serve in Heaven... or rule in Hell?"

He paused, making anger boil inside me. But I soon felt relief when he rejected with, "I choose what once, a coward did not."

Abaddon growled, and with the Armageddon blade in hand, War mounted Ruin and began to fight. I really didn't know what to do at this point, because all of my weapons were completely useless against the Destroyer. I decided to wait.

And I didn't have to wait long at all. After about a half hour, War jumped over Abaddon's head, and grabbed onto his wing. In frustration, he flew up into the clouds so high that I couldn't see them. I had no idea what he did, but War slammed back into the arena ground on his knees. Abaddon, not in his Destroyer form, also fell, but he fell through.

War looked my way, but before he saw me I ducked down behind the dead angel. Even from the ways away he was from me, and the ringing in my ears, I would've sworn I heard him whisper, "I should've brought her with me." That alone made me grin sarcastically. I looked back up, and he jumped into the hole Abaddon made in the floor.

Confused, I got to my feet and walked over to it. At least two hundred feet to the bottom stood Abaddon and War on a smaller arena. I could only tell it was them because the echo of two swords cracking together reached my ears.

I didn't know how to reach them. I thought about it for a good five minutes before seeing that there was a bronze piece of metal that was sticking out about thirty feet down on the left side of the hole. I sat down with my feet hanging over the side. Breathing heavily, I told myself that if I missed, I would die. And War would be angry with me, but at least I wouldn't have to listen to it.

My heart pounding in my ears, I just couldn't get myself to jump. After thinking for an easier way, I stood back up on the main level and lied on my stomach, my arms hanging over the side. In my hand, I held Mercy. With one of my eyes closed, I aimed and shot three holes in the middle of the piece. Each one went all the way through and was right next to each other.

I swung the grappling hook around a few times after standing up, and threw it down with a lot of force. The tip went through the hole that I made- which is exactly what I wanted it to do- and wrapped until it was stuck. I violently jerked it a few times; making sure it wouldn't come free. Once I was sure that it was solid, I jumped down.

My heart felt like it dropped faster than I did. I wasn't particularly afraid of heights, but if it's falling to your death, that's a lot different. It was a good thing that I landed on the metal. I sighed in relief, and let myself laugh a little. I decided that because I didn't have anything else to on that little ledge, I would lower myself down. My back still firmly pressed against the wall, I slowly sat down. Once I had the courage, I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed myself off.

Absolutely freaked out, breathing heavily and wanting to scream, I finally started to scale down to get to them. After getting more comfortable, I looked down and saw that Abaddon had War pinned up against a wall. Cursing under my breath, I started to descend quicker. Once I was close enough, I pulled the chain free and it retracted before I even came close to the ground.

Almost silently, I landed on my feet. I knew I had to be quiet, or I was dead. Just by how War was acting- pinned up against the wall with a sword up to his throat- he knew I was there. He didn't look at me, because that would make Abaddon suspicious, but I knew he did. I pointed to the Armageddon blade, and he nodded, pretending to acknowledge the Destroyers words that I didn't bother to listen to.

And in one motion, he threw the blade over the archangel's head.

He thought War had surrendered by doing that. He chuckled as I caught it. I stuck the blades handle inside the hook that I made for the bow string, and grabbed it with my hand on the top of the handle as well. The electricity flowed through me, and I felt like I was going to fall unconscious, but I refused to let myself. With all of my force, I slammed the flat of the blade into Abaddon's skull.

With a low voiced scream, he fell to the ground. War looked at me and nodded, but turned to the heavily breathing Destroyer as I dropped the blade, shaking.

"You have taught me something, Abaddon. Sometimes duty must be cast aside to do what must be done... It is not for duty that I kill you now." He stepped on the archangel's back, and firmly grabbed his black stained wings. With another painful shriek coming from him, War yanked the wings out, splattering the both of us with blood. I heard someone come up behind me, and I spun around.

"Uriel..." Abaddon croaked, confirming who it was. "Uriel."

She looked at the bandages wrapped around my head, trying to mask what looked like sorrow in her golden eyes, but that soon turned to anger when she locked eyes with Abaddon.

"Reap what you have sewn, _betrayer._" She snarled, and War picked up the Armageddon blade.

I winced when the blade entered his back, and dug so far into him that it broke through the metal flooring underneath.

I started to back up towards the wall, unsure what would happen next. The Destroyer's hand flung out beside him and in the pool of blood was the Seventh Seal. This one was a lot smaller, so you could hold it in your hand. War picked it up, but soon dropped it when the familiar blue hue wrapped around War's torso.

"_War!"_ Uriel and I both yelled at the same time; we looked at each other in confusion but soon turned back to the Horseman.

The Watcher had started to laugh, looking at War crawl across the ground, desperately trying to get hold of the Seal. "You _had_ to know it was a one-way ticket..."

"The... Council..." War croaked.

"They knew you wouldn't play Executioner because of your precious _honor. _They let you take the fall... they knew you'd butcher everyone involved to clear your name."

Anger started to rise into my throat. Before I could stop myself, I was running towards them._ "No!"_

But the Watcher wouldn't let me come near him. In the corner of my eye I saw the blue wrap around me, throwing me against a wall. And I listened to my head bang against it. My eyes began to close, but I forced them open.

"Patience,_ whore_." It spat the words at me. "I've got some for you, too." Just before War can wrap his fingers around the seal, the Watcher picked it up. I saw Uriel cross the room and rip the Armageddon blade out of Abaddon's chest. "I'll take that. If it were to get broken, you might get ideas... like not going back into your little cage. It's tragic, really. You had freedom in the palm of your hand, and you _lost it_..."

War starts to laugh. And not like he usually does. This laugh actually frightened me. "What's so damn funny?!" It yelled. "Even you wouldn't laugh at you own_ funeral_!"

"I'm laughing... at _yours..."_

That's when my heart felt like it had been dropped off of a cliff and splattered into a pulp.

Uriel took the Armageddon blade and rammed it through War's back with so much force that almost half of it came through his chest. "Nex Sacramentum." She said shakily. "The Death Oath... is complete."

"W-War?" I stuttered, remembering a time when he teased me for it. He was really the only friend that i've ever had. And he's dead. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as Uriel ripped the blade out. On my knees, I crawled over to his corpse, not believing that he was really gone. But after one glance at his wound, it was confirmed.

I looked over to Uriel, who went for the Watcher. She violently broke the Seal that was in its hands, ripping its arm off in the process. "Hellguard _bitch_! What did you do?!"

I took my attention off of that and turned back towards War's body. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to fight back tears and rested my forehead on his shoulder, punching his arm as I did. "Oh, you stubborn bastard, you..."

I saw a white hue surround his body, but I didn't care enough to look up. It was probably his body rotting away just like the demons. And my face drained of any sign of color when he sat up.

"War?!" I was so confused, but relieved.

He wrapped his arm around me and patted my back. "I'm not done yet, Lefty."

I laughed, burring my face into my one hand and the gauze of my right wrist. Tears streamed down my face in both joy and fear and anger as he stood up. I calmed down and made myself stand up next to him, despite the pain.

"No, no... No!" The Watcher yelled. He threw Uriel across the room, and raised his fist in front of him. "I'm going to pull your guts out through your _halo_!"

Walking up behind him, War grabbed its wrist before he could hurt Uriel, making it laugh. "Keep getting up. I'll just kill you again."

The Horseman kicked it to the ground, and I heard a few more angels come up behind me and speak with Uriel. And that's when a smirk formed on my face when the Watcher began to plead.

"I-I was just following orders! Like you! What are you going to do?! Fight the Council?! Fight _everyone?!_ You'll never get away... you hear me...?! _Never!"_ Again, War kicks it, and it started to get dizzy from blood loss. "Don't... forget... who holds... t-the leash..."

He picks it up by the head, cutting off its air supply. He blankly states, "I haven't forgotten." And crushes its skull with the force of his over sized gauntlet.

The Watcher's body fell limp, and War threw it to the side. Uriel and the other angels that joined her stood in front of us, weapons raised.

"You knew..." She said, almost yelling. You knew what would happen here! What I would do! _That's_ why you spared me...!"

"No." War replied.

"Then _why?!_"

He walked up to her raised blade and let the tip rest over his heart. "Because I would not have the last of Heaven's honor die with its champion."

She pauses, trying to think, but soon made a decision. She got to her knees and bowed. "All debts are repaid. The duty I uphold... it may call me to raise my sword against you. And if that day comes... I won't hesitate." He spun around to walk towards me, but Uriel spoke one last time. "You will be hunted! The WhiteCity for certain. The Council... and there will be others! The two of you will face this war _alone_?!"

With the broken Seal in hand, we looked off into the distance and saw three canons beam down through the sunset. "No." He looked at me with a grin. "Not alone."

xxxxxxxxxx

Death. Strife. Fury. Death...

Uriel and the other angels had fled, so War and I walked off to the edge of the arena. We watched as the three canons crash landed in a forest. War looked at me, and I was absolutely frozen. Not smiling, not moving.

"What's wrong?"

Seven years. Not a word spoken to him. The shadow... I was freaking out. "I..."

"Nope. I'm going to _murder_ you if you get scared now."

I let myself fake a smile and he opened a portal to get us down there. He was about to walk in, but the expression on my face returned.

"Lefty, I'm thinking there might be something you're not telling me."

The shadow. That's the only thing on my mind. Screw it. "T-the shadow. I-it... never mind."

Before he could argue, I stepped into the portal.

On the other side, we were in the middle of an open field. Angels and demons were fighting in all directions. Without question, we started to fight. I swung the chain around, decapitating tens of hundreds of demons as I did so within the course of an hour.

Once the last one was killed, War and I met back up in the middle, stepping over dead demons. We we're going to start walking again, but in the corner of my eye, I saw a small bird circle around us for a few moments, and then come to perch on my shoulder.

I started to laugh as I stroked the bird's feathers. "Dust... he's here..."

War looked at me strangely. "That thing hates the rest of us." Dust flew off, and we started to follow him in the intention to find the other Horsemen. "So, how'd you get up there?"

"Azrael let me through."

"Ah, damn. I should have told him not to."

"He would've either way, War." I retorted, kicking a rock as we walked. "Plus, you said you should've brought me with you."

"...where in the hell were you?"

"I was sitting behind a dead angel. You looked in my direction, but-"

"There they are."

My head snapped up at the sound of an argument. "Come on, brother."

"You're such a child, Strife." His voice... I froze. He was facing away from me, leaning against a rock.

"You're not much older than me, Death!"

"Yes, but I am older. And more mature."

My right wrist was behind me, and my hand made its way up to my mouth. "That's it. I'm going to kick your- who's that?" My eyes widened. "That looks like that mad woman."

"Very funny. I'm not falling for it."

Strife narrowed his eyes, and I could tell he was grinning underneath his mask. "What's there to fall for, brother?"

And he spun around. His eyes met mine, and I put my hand down. "D-Death?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**A/N: SO excited for this story. hope you like it. **


	11. Epilogue

My armor buckled underneath his hug. Tears rolled down my cheeks in complete joy as my arms wrapped around his neck. It was him.

"Death? What the hell? Who is- War, why are you_ smiling?!"_

I let out a laugh and set my head on his shoulder, getting a curious glance from Fury who I just noticed was leaning against a tree, her arms crossed.

"Don't ever convince me to leave you again." He whispered in my ear, making me laugh. He lifted his head up to look at War. "Brother," He acknowledged. War nodded, and I could tell that he was smiling under his mask. "Thank you."

"Thank you for what?!" Strife yelled.

Death and I listened to War explain everything that I had told him. Strife seemed pretty understanding, but Fury Just kept her eyes on me. I smiled at her, but that seemed to make her angrier. With an eyebrow raised, she stood up and put her arms to her side. Through the entire time of War explaining, Death didn't let me go, and I didn't want him to.

"I won't." I said back, and that just made him hug me tighter. "I-I'm so sorry... I didn't know..."

"What...?" He asked softly when my voice started to crack.

"I...I asked you... to kill me... a-and I didn't know about..."

He moved to look at me. "Aurelia..." I nodded, and he brought my forehead to his mask. "It's okay... it's alright. You didn't know. And-"

"I'm so sorry..."

"Alice..." His voice, his eyes staring back into mine, made me freeze. He let out a chuckle, and I could tell he was grinning, "I love you." It sounded like he was teasing me, but he was dead serious.

"I love you too." I smiled.

"Come on, Lefty." I heard War say.

_Oh, damn_. I thought. Death's head snapped up, and he glared at his younger brother. "Why are you calling her Lefty?"

"Uh..."

"Well I sure as hell can't call her righty." Death looked at me with complete confusion in his eyes.

"I-I don't know why he's-"

"You really think you can keep it from him forever, Lefty?"

"Shut up, War." I snapped, making him laugh. But Death was completely serious. He grabbed my right wrist and held it up, and when my hand wasn't there, his eyes widened. "I-it's nothing. Really-"

"Where the hell is your hand?!"

With a guilty smile, I replied, "Somewhere inside of a dead ash worm."

His eyes got wider with every word. He took the grappling chain off and cupped his hands around my wrist. Behind him, I heard Strife laugh. "Hey, look! You and War match!"

"Strife, don't push it..." Was the first thing that I heard Fury say.

"Pardon...?" I replied, completely lost.

"Damn." Death cursed.

"If you must know," Fury snapped at me. "One of our little 'arguments' got out of hand, so Death ripped his arm off. That's why he has his gauntlet."

"Fury!" The eldest yelled.

"What? You don't want your precious little human to know?" She retorted.

"Ah, damn you War! I didn't try to kill you over something that you were hiding!" I yelled teasingly, laughing as I spoke.

_"What did you do, War?!"_ Death exclaiming made War, Strife, and I laugh, and even Fury allowed herself a smile.

"Well, you've basically seen any other memory." The youngest replied.

"Heh, oh yeah..." I trailed off. "That was a pretty good one, Strife.'Little Red Riding Hood'."

He widened his eyes at my last remark, and turned to Death. "Alright, she's good."

That got him to lighten up a little bit, but not for long. "Wait here," he told me, and he went to go speak with War.

I walked over to the wall of an old building. I leaned against it and ran the gauze on my right arm over the corner of it. Nothing could bring me down right now. Death was here. And I missed him so much when he was gone.

The stupid grin on my face faded when Fury came up to me and pulled me around the corner of the building, making sure the other three Horsemen couldn't see me. She slammed me back against the wall, making my head crack back. My vision blurred and I felt like passing out. She held her claw up to my throat, and forced me to look at her.

"Listen, child." She snarled her bright yellow eyes narrowed in anger. "I don't like you. At _all._ Death has been through a lot of stuff, just like the rest of us. If you hurt him at all, if you even make him _think _about Aurelia... I will not hesitate to kill you. But... If you make him happy-" She let me go, pushing me hard against the wall again. "-I'll leave you alone. Just stay away from me."

Once she was gone, my knees collapsed and I sat down against the rock. "By far the most frightening Horseman."

My head started to throb again, so I decided to try and unwrap the blood stained gauze myself. I had to bite my sleeve that was rolled up on my right arm to keep myself from screaming. Once it was all off, I was trembling. I sat it next to me, and I reached up to touch where it hurt the most.

That time I couldn't stop myself from letting out a short cry. I cursed under my breath and brought my hand back down. My fingers were covered in blood. I grabbed the roll of gauze that I had put in my metal pocket earlier, and began to wrap up my head, digging my teeth into the cloth on my arm and squeezing my eyes shut. Once there was enough to keep myself from feeling dizzy, I tore it off, separating the roll, and tucked the end underneath a separate layer.

I heard Death come around the corner. I looked at him with a smile, and he came to sit next to me. "What are you doing back here?" He asked, wrapping his bulky arm around me, pulling me closer to him.

"Just treating my head… plus Fury and I had a word." I replied, resting my head on his.

"What happened? And what did my sister say?"

"An angel cracked my skull... it's nothing. Oh, and she just wanted to tell me that she thought I was great." I lied, a smirk forming on my face.

"You never think your injuries are something, do you?" He asked, making me fake a laugh.

"It's not the first time I've gotten a life threatening injury on this trip."

"Well, alright. List them. I want to know."

"Oh, goodness... Vulgrim tried to choke me at one point... War backhanded me with the flat of Chaoseater accidentally..." I started. "I broke three of my ribs."

"How did you manage to do that?!"

"That was the second time War hit me with the flat of his sword."

"And was that an accident?"

"No..." I mumbled. I looked at him, and he glared at me, which made me smile.

He started to chuckle. "What?"

"I missed you... seven years is a long time for me."

"You have no idea."

"Well... at least you had your siblings to communicate with..."

"Who did you have?"

I shook my head. "No one. It was just me."

He looked at me softly. "Why did you convince me to leave you... I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." I said with a smile. "I'm here now, right?"

He chuckled again, and I stood up. He did the same, and I started walking. "We should probably get back to the others-"

He cut me of by grabbing my arm and pushing my back against the wall, making sure not to hurt my head. He pressed a hand on each side if me, making sure I wouldn't be able to get away. I struggled for a moment, but his gaze met mine and I froze. I couldn't read his expression at all, and that frightened me. The memory of the shadow wouldn't leave me be, and it made me feel guilty.

"I've waited so long to see that face." He whispered, moving his masked face closer to me. "That beautiful face."

That's when I tensed even more than I already was. No one- not even my family while they were alive- had ever called me that. People have called me other nice things, and I never gave them much thought. But that... I really didn't know how to reply, and I didn't need to. I wanted to put my head down, but his gaze was so strong that I couldn't move. He lifted his left hand up to his mask, talking it off in one swift movement.

His face hardly changed at all. The skin tone looked darker, so he must not be wearing it as much anymore. The corners of his lips lifted, and I yet again remembered how much I missed that smile. With every move he made, my heartbeat increased. Still nervous, I shyly wrapped my arms around his neck. He put one of his hands on my cheek, and slowly pressed his lips against mine.

I was in shock for a moment, but soon closed my eyes and returned the kiss, feeling guiltier than ever. I wanted to tell him about the shadow. And I knew that I would have to soon, because he will be able to tell when I'm thinking more intensely than usual.

He noticed how tense I was, so he let off and rested his forehead gently against mine, staring into my eyes and making me feel worse. "What's wrong?"

I smiled, biting the inside of my lip to keep myself from breaking down in sobs. "Nothing."

"Tell me."

"I..." I cut myself off, drawing blood on the inside of my mouth.

Death let his mask drop to the ground, and he quickly cupped my face in his hands, making me flinch. Looking at his face... I couldn't get the picture of that shadow, glaring at me with pure hatred, out of my head. Deaths smile faded, and he took a small step back.

"Am I frightening you?" He asked softly.

I looked at him with sorrow, and took a step forward. "Of course not. I-it's..."

"What...?"

I shook my head, swallowing some of the blood that came from my lip, unsure of how to explain it. "My hallucinations."

He tensed. "They're back?"

"N-no... well, in a way... Azrael granted me access to-"

"The Shadow Realm. I know... War told me. He also said that you were acting like you had a problem with the shadow." He said. I nodded, biting one of my fingers as I looked at him. "What happened?"

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say, so I lunged myself forward and wrapped my arms around his chest. "Just... just know that I love you. No matter how many hallucinations I have."

He returned my hug, and I could tell that he figured out what I meant. "Oh, no..."

"When Strife shot those five bullets..."

''That was you who shot them?"

"I-I'm so sorry!" That's when I couldn't help but cry into his chest. I felt so weak. So useless.

"Shhh," He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me and stroking the bottom of my head with his thumb. "It's alright, love, it doesn't matter to me."

"I-I can't get the image out if my head. You were dying... b-by my hand... It won't leave me be!"

"Shhh, I know, I know. I'm so sorry..." He sat down against the wall, bringing me with him. I started to calm down and stopped. "Get some rest. You must be exhausted."

"I-"

"I'm not leaving you. I'm staying right here." Death assured me. I nodded, and tucked my knees up as he stroked my arm.

"I'm sorry..." Was the last thing I managed to say before falling asleep.

xxxxxxxx

"Death? Where- Um, I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't wearing your..." I heard Strife's voice as soon as I awoke, but I kept my eyes closed.

"It's quite alright, brother." Death replied, his chest moving underneath my head as he spoke. When I didn't hear Strife answer, Death rubbed my arm and spoke again, "I don't need it."

"What? She's just a mortal! How in the hell did she convince you to-"

"She's been through terrible things... similar the things us four have suffered through."

"And yet she's still cracking a joke every second." The two brothers both chuckled, but I did well keeping my smile masked. "Is that why she went mad?"

"For the reasons why she's like us, yes. But you'll have to ask her what happened." I let out a sigh and shifted, moving closer to Death. He ruffled my hair where the bandage wasn't holding it down. "She was racked by guilt."

"Like you."

"And you," Death retorted.

"And War, and Fury-"

"Yes, I know, I know."

I heard Strife chuckle. "I really think she'll be good for you. I've never seen another being so... Death."

"Well-"

"Sarcastic, arrogant, probably a total jackass-"

_"Alright,_ brother. Moment over. Go on, before she wakes up."

I heard his footsteps begin to fade, laughter following them. I let myself sit and rest for another ten minutes or so, thinking about what happened, but then pretended to just be waking up.

"Hey," Death greeted warmly when I let my eyes open. I smiled, and saw that the sun was coming up. I had slept the entire night. I finally focused on his smiling face, squinting so I could see him.

"You've been sitting here this entire time?"

"I fell asleep every once and a while, but I had you to keep me company."

"I was asleep," I pointed out.

"Does it matter?" He said sweetly, leaning over to kiss me. My lips were curved into a smile as my right arm wrapped around his neck.

"Death!" I heard Fury yell, and Death spun his head around.

"Hey, dumbass! Why don't you-" Strife's voice was cut off by the sound if metal against metal. Then followed by a groan belonging to War.

He put his mask on and turned to me. "Wait here."

He took only one step before something came out and hit him in the head. I wanted to scream as he fell to the ground, but I clamped my hand over my mouth. Shaking, I loaded my bow and held it to the things head that had knocked the four unconscious. Scanning its body, I could tell it wasn't a demon. Or an angel. It looked like a spawn of the Watcher.

"W-who are you?! What do you want?!" I screamed. The thing didn't flinch.

"I work for the Council," It spat. Its voice was bland and clear. "They need to speak with the Four... are you Alice?"

I looked down to Death, squeezed my eyes shut, and replied, "Yes. Yes, my name is Alice."

"You were supposed to die on the Horseman's trip!"

"Well, surprise, surprise!" I yelled, trying to fight back tears.

In one movement, the thing got around my arrow and wrapped a chain around my neck, pulling it tight with every word. "If you want me to spare your pathetic life, I _suggest_ you cooperate."

It started to drag me by the chain wrapped around my neck. In front off me were two large horses carrying a wooden trailer behind them. More Watchers like creatures came out, and they all picked me up. After much struggling, they finally got me to sit still enough for them to move the chain from my neck to my midsection. They tied it to a metal post that was attached to the trailer. Once I was stuck, they began to put the Horsemen in. If they tried to wake up, the creatures would hit them over the head with what looked like a hammer.

And every time they did, I would flinch. Fury was put in first, then Strife, War, and Death. He was the closest to me. The Watchers disappeared into the buggie in front of me, and the horses slowly began to trot. I tried to jerk myself free, but it was no use.

"Death?" I whispered frantically. "War? Strife?! Fury?! Oh goodness... Death... please wake up!" Tears streamed down my face. "Damn... oh, I promise we'll get out if this..."

His eyes opened.

"Death!" I almost screamed it.

"Shhh... Calm down, love," He whispered soothingly, and I could tell he was in a lot of pain. "It's okay, just be quiet-" Something came from in front of us. In the air, I couldn't tell what it was, and when it hit the floor of the wooden trailer, it turned to a bright yellow smoke. "Hold your breath..." was the last thing he said before falling unconscious.

Once the smoke faded, I started to breathe again, and I was freaking out. I was praying that it was just sleeping gas. But if it was, why would Death tell me to hold my breath? I felt terrible. I looked down at his chest, and he was still breathing. So I must me overreacting. I let myself relax a little, but I was still on edge. I looked ahead and saw that we were approaching a bright red portal at the edge of the field. I cursed under my breath as we went through.

xxxxxxxxx

The Council. Didn't change from when I saw them with War, or when I saw them in my hallucinations before I met Death.

Once we were all before the Council, the Watchers unraveled the chain that was digging into my skin, letting me go. I struggled to get off, but turned to the Horsemen. I was about to try to shake Death awake, but I heard the Council's voice boom behind me.

**"Why did you bring a human before us?!"** One of them yelled.

"Alice." The Watcher type creature replied.

**"She was supposed to fall! That's why we sent her along with the Horseman without reason!"**

"I'm stronger than you anticipated, then." I finally said, turning around to face them.

**"War!"** The middle rock screamed, and I spun around to see all of them waking. Death sat up, and he gave me a look that told me not to say anything. I moved put of the way so the four Nephillim could stand**. "You have defied us! You know that we can strip you of every aspect your power before you could speak another word."**

"The Destroyer did this. I haven't defied you."

**"You killed the one we sent to keep you under out control! You have done much!" **War walked closer, but the other three stayed near me**. "Due to what has happened... the Charred Council is going to keep you in contempt."**

"What?" War asked, and a few of the Watcher like creatures started to pull him away.

_"No!"_ Death, right beside me, tried to run to his brother, but I stood in front of him, keeping him back. "He did _nothing!"_

**"Will you choose to do the same, Kinslayer?!"** The left one screamed. Death stopped trying to get past my grasp, and took a step back towards me. Fury and Strife just stood, angrily watching their brother be taken.

**"Now... as for the girl."** The right rock said. **"Do we kill her?"**

"No." Death yelled again. "You can use her to your advantage."

**"How is that so, Horseman?"**

"I can transfer memories to one another." I replied for him. "You wouldn't need witnesses."

**"...That's not a terrible idea... but, there are other things. Where would you go? How would you defend yourself?"**

"She can stay with me. I'll train her." Death set his hand on my shoulder, making me tense for a moment, but I soon relaxed more.

**"I see. Either way, you are only human. Mere training won't keep you alive."**

"Then what will?" I asked.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I staggered back, and Death caught me before I fell. I looked down, and in the only spot where there wasn't armor on my chest stuck out a long metal tube.

_"What did you do to her?!"_ Death yelled. His voice was echoing and sounded distant. The Council spoke again, but I couldn't make out their words. My heart felt like someone was putting dry ice to it. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that it was an injection, and it punctured my heart.

I looked up at Death, who was speaking to the Council. He looked angry, and I didn't know why. I looked to my right, and saw the other two staring intently at me. Why? What happened? I can't remember. I was freezing, and the only thing I could tell that my body was doing was shivering. Death quickly picked me up and started walking, and the speed made me black out.

xxxxxxxxxx

I sat up immediately after waking. I sat on a pitch black room on a couch. I looked around, but it was no use. It was too dark. Although when I moved close to an object, I swore that I saw a deep green tint glow from it.

_Where the hell am I?_ I thought. Realizing how freezing cold I was, I brought the blanket that I was wrapped in closer to me. Shivering, I looked up again and whispered, "Death?"

His eyes opened right where I was staring. I tried to back up, but I forgot I was sitting on a couch. He let out a chuckle, mocking my accent, "Hello, love."

"You scared-" What the hell? My voice changed. I didn't know how much, or how it sounded different, but it did. "You startled me."

"Are you cold?"

I nodded, but realized he couldn't see it. "Y-yeah... what happened? Where are we?"

He shifted so he could sit next to me. "The Council knew that you wouldn't last long as a human here, so they gave you the blood of a different, stronger race."

"What race?" The green glow that I saw on his unmasked face showed me that he flashed a grin, both his eyebrows raised. This made me realize. "Nephillim."


End file.
